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DpotesTANT 
EVOLUTION 


EPOCHS  OF  HISTORY 


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THE  COMMERCE  OF  CHRISTENDOM 


THE  MAIN  LI  N  ES  OF  TRADE: 

THE  DISTRICT  OF  THE  HANSE 
&  FREE  GERMAN  TOWNS 


-Aniwerj)  A  Bruges 
tkf  (iiitixv  o/'tite 
Wix^lleaMaiiufiwturuH/ 
Distrust  StiftJu- 


Th(;.i!J(r*!fr.i«t,ii«ttst'tt-tSSPj*?ij-.(, 

MANUFACTURING  DISTRICTS 

^N^Oollen  Blue  ^^plied  with  Wool  from  E7>{/hi7ul,  Spain 
and  IlenM.  and  Corn  from  France  and  the 
ports  on  the  Baltic — Eu'ijortiurj  Woollen 
goorln  all  over  Phrisie.iidom. 

Linen       Green        in  clone  cStfn0B*ion  vAth  the  Woollen. 

Silk  Yellow  ^''^  Italy.,  fyicily,  Catalonia,  Lyons.  <£:o. 
These  DiMricts  supplied  with  Woollen 
goods  from  the  north.  lAf  sea  and  by  the 
Overland.  Comtnerce  through  Germany 
to   Venice. 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

RIVERSIDE 


Epochs  of  History 

EDITED    BY 

EDWARD  E.  MORRIS,  M.A. 


THE  ERA 

OF 

THE  PROTESTANT  REVOLUTION 


F.  SEEBOHM 


EPOCHS  SELECTED. 


THE  ERA  OF  THE  PROTESTANT  REVOLUTION.  By  F.  Seebohm, 
Author  of  '  The  Oxford  Reformers,'  with  an  appendix  by  Prof  Geo. 
P.  FiSHEK,  of  Yale  College. — Now  ready. 

THE  CRUSADES.  By  Rev.  G.  W.  Cox,  M.A.,  Author  of  the 
'  History  of  Greece.' — Now  ready. 

THE  THIRTY  YEARS'  WAR,  161S-1648.  By  Samuel  Rawson  Gar- 
diner.— Now  ready. 

THE  HOUSES  OF  LANCASTER  AND  YORK;  with  the  CONQUEST 
and  LOSS  of  FRANCE.  By  James  Gairdnek  of  the  Public  Record 
Office. — N0IV  ready. 

THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES;  CHARLES  theGREAT 
and  ALFRED;  the  HISTORY  of  ENGLAND  in  its  connexion 
with  that  of  EUROPE  in  the  NINTH  CENTURY.  By  the  Very 
Rev.  R.  ^V.  Church,  M.  A.,  Dean  of  St.  Paul's. 

THE  NORMAN  KINGS  AND  THE  FEUDAL  SYSTEM.  By  the  Rev. 
A.  H.  Johnson,  M.A. 

THE  EARLY  PLANTAGENETS  and  their  relation  to  the  HISTORY 
of  EUROPE ;  the  foundation  and  growth  of  CONSTITUTIONAL 
GOVERNMENT.  By  the  Rev.  V/illiam  Stubbs,  M.A.,  &c.  Regius 
Professor  of  Modern  History  in  the  University  of  Oxford, 

EDWARD  III.     By  the  Rev.  W.  Warburton,  M.A. 

THE  AGE  OF  ELIZABETH.     By  the  Rev.  M.  Creighton,  M.A. 

THE  STUARTS  AND  THE  PURITAN  REVOLUTION.  By  J.  Langton 
Sanford,  Author  of '  Studies  and  Illustrations  of  the  Great  Rebellion.' 

THE  FALL  OF  THE  STUARTS;  and  WESTERN  EUROPE  from 
1678101697.  By  the  Rev.  Edward  Hale,  M.A.,  Assistant-Master 
at  Eton. 

THE  AGE  OF  ANNIE.     By  Edward  E.  Morris,  M.A.,  Editorof  the 

Series. 

FREDERICK  THE  GREAT  and  the  SEVEN  YEARS'  WAR.     By  F. 

\V.  Longman,  of  Ealliol  College,  Oxford. 


EACH    I    VOL.    i6mO.,    CLOTH,    UNIFORM.    PRICE,   $I.OO. 


New  York :  SCRIBNER,  ARMSTRONG  &  CO. 


THE   ERA 


PROTESTANT  REVOLUTION 


FREDERIC   SEEBOHM 

AUTHOR  OF 
'THE  OXFORD  REFORMERS — COLET,  ERASMUS,  AND  MORE' 


SECOND  EDITION 

With  Notes  on  Books  in  English  relating  to  the  Reformation, 

by  Geo.  P.  Fisher,  D.D.,  Professor  of   Ecclesiastical 

History  in  Yale  College,  author  of  "History 

of  the  Reformation,"  &c. 


NEW    YORK 

SCRIBNER,  ARMSTRONG,  AND  CO. 

1871. 


Jas.  B.  Rodgers  Co., 

Electrotype'rs  and  Printers, 

52  &  54  N.  Sixth  St., 

PHlLiDKLPHIA. 


SUMMARY. 


PART  I. 

STATE  OF  CHRISTENDOM. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Introductory. 

rh^  E. 

(a)  The  Small  Extent  of  Christendom. — Smaller  than  it  once  haa 
been.  The  Mohammedan  power  checked  in  the  West,  biif  oncr>.>ach- 
ing  from  the  East.  Kinship  between  Christians,  Mohammedsns, 
and  Jews,  but  they  hate  one  another I 

(J))  The  Signs  of  New  Life  in  Christendom. — Influence  of  the  cru- 
saders. Inventions.  Fall  of  Constantinople.  Revival  of  learning. 
Printing. 3 

(c)  The  Widening  of  Christetidoni. — Moors  driven  out  of  Spain.  Dis- 
covery of  America.  New  way  to  East  Indies.  Men's  minds  prepared 
for  great  events.  4 

(</)  The  New  Era  one  of  Progress  in  Ci^'ilization. — What  civiliza- 
tion IS.  The  old  Roman  civilization.  Its  main  vice  Modern 
civilization.  Its  strength.  The  crisis  of  the  struggle  between  the 
old  and  the  new  order  of  things.     Plan  of  this  book.        ...        5 


CHAPTER   II. 

THE   POWERS   BELONGING   TO   THE   OLD    ORDER    OP  THINGS, 
AND    GOING   our. 

(a)  The  Ecclesiastical  System. — The  Ecclesiastical  Empire.  Rome 
its  capital.  Independent  of  the  civil  power.  The  monks.  Power 
of  the  ecclesiastical  system,  by  its  influence  over  the  people,  by  its 
wealth,  by  the  monopoly  of  learning  and  political  influence,  which 
all  centred  in  Rome.     This  Empire  will  be  broken  up  in  the  Era 

(b)  The  Scholastic  Syston.  The  learned  world  talked  and  wrote  in 
Latin,  and  belonged  to  the  clergy.  This  made  learning  scholastic, 
shackled  science,  and  religion  also,  and  kept  them  from  the  com- 
mon people.  Necessity  of  mental  freedom.  The  Universities. 
Students  pass  ffom  one  to  another.  The  result  of  this  in  the  days 
of  Wiclif     Will  be  repeated  in  the  new  Era.     The  work  of  the  Er^ 


vi  Summary. 


PAGE. 

(c)  The  Feudal  System  and  the  Forces  -which  were  breaking  it  up. — 
It  divided  countries  into  petty  lordships.  Decay  of  the  feudal 
system.  Subjection  of  feudal  lords  to  the  Crown.  Increasing 
power  of  the  Crown.  The  growth  of  commerce.  Trade  of  the 
Mediterranean.  The  manufacturing  districts.  The  fisheries.  The 
commerce  of  the  Hanse  towns.  Bruges  and  Antwerp  the  central 
marts  of  commerce.  Lines  of  maritime,  inland,  and  overland  trade. 
The  towns  had  niostly  got  free.  Why  the  towns  hated  feudalism 
and  favored  the  Crown.  The  feudal  peasantry  once  were  more  free 
than  afterwards  under  the  feudal  system.  Where  the  central  power 
was  weakest,  feudal  serfdom  lingered  longest.  The  towns  and 
commerce  favoured  freedom  of  the  peasantry  .        .        .        .16 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE   MODERN    NATIONS   WHICH    WERE   RISING   INTO   POWER. 

(a)  Italy. — Italy  not  a  united  nation.  Rome,  according  to  Machiavelli, 
the  cause  of  her  disunity.  Rome  a  centre  of  rottenness.  Dante 
and  Petrarch  described  her  vices.  Recent  Popes  bad  men.  Alex- 
ander VI.  and  Caesar  Borgia.  Their  crimes.  Effect  of  Papal 
wickedness.  Main  divisions  of  Italy.  Papal  States.  Venice. 
Florence.  Milan.  Naples.  Papal  politics  the  ruin  of  Italy  by 
promoting  invasion  by  France  and  Spain. 92 

{b)  Germany. — Germany  had  not  yet  attained  national  unity.  The 
emperor  claimed  to  be  Caesar  and  King  of  Rome.  His  claim  to 
universal  empire  very  shadowy.  How  elected.  The  feudal  cere- 
mony. There  were  no  imperial  domains.  Very  little  imperial 
power.  The  Emperor  Maximilian  powerful  as  head  of  the  Aus- 
trian House  of  Hapsburg.  Charles  V.  powerful  because  of  his  Aus- 
trian and  Spanish  dominions.  The  Diets  had  no  power  to  enforce 
their  decrees.  The  feudal  system  still  prevailed.  Subdivision  of 
lordships  by  law  of  inheritance.  Constant  petty  feuds.  Lawless- 
ness of  the  knights.  The  towns  of  Germany.  Their  leagues  for 
mutal  defence.  Want  of  a  central  power  to  maintain  the  public 
peace.  The  condition  of  the  peasantry  growing  harder  and  harder 
for  want  of  a  central  power.  History  of  the  German  "  Bauer." 
Rebellion  his  only  remedy  .........      2J 

(<:)  Spain. — Spain  was  becoming  the  first  power  in  Europe.  Power  of 
the  nobles.  Driven  into  the  north  by  the  Moors.  Reconquest  of 
Spain  from  the  Moors,  except  Granada  which  held  out.  Kingdoms 
of  Castile  and  Arragon  united  under  Ferdinand  and  Isabella.  Spain 
thenceforth  tends  to  become  an  absolute  monarchy.  Conquest  of 
Granada.  Ferdinand's  policy  to  complete  Spain  on  the  map.  Co- 
lumbus. Foreign  policy.  Royal  marriages.  Success  of  these 
alliances.  Domestic  policy.  Subjugation  of  the  nobles.  The 
Inquisition.  Banishment  of  the  Jews.  Independent  policy  towards 
Rome.  Colonial  policy.  Christianity  introduced  into  the  New 
World,  but  slavery  with  it 35 

id)  France. — How  all  France  had  grown  into  one  nation.  France 
claimed  Milan,  and  Naples  also  This  union  of  .all  France  the  re- 
sult of  the  crown  being  hereditary,  primogeniture,  and  intermarriage 
with  the  royal  family  The  towns.  Final  struggle  of  the  Crown 
with  Burgundy.  English  conquests  at  an  end.  The  English  wars 
had  helped  to  unite  the  nation  and  increase  the  power  of  the  Crown  ; 
but  there  were  seeds  of  disunion   within.     The   crown  hid  become 


Summary.  vii 

absolute.     Royal  taxes  without  consent  of  the  people.  Royal  stand- 
ing army.     The  noblesse  a  privileged  untaxed  caste.  The  peasantry 
not   serfs,   but  taxed,  paying  rents,  and   tithes,   and   taille.     Their 
grievances.     The  middle-class  leave  the  country  for  the  towns.    Se- 
paration of  classes  the  main  vice  in  French  polity.     Love  of  foreign 
wars  the  chief  vice  in  her  policy.  ......  41 

(t)  England. — The  English  nation  had  for  long  been  consolidated.  The 
nobility  not  a  caste.  Importance  of  the  middle  classes  of  citizens  and 
yeomen.  The  Crown  and  all  classes  subject  to  the  laws.  The 
government  a  constitutional  monarchy,  i.  e.  the  king  could  make  no 
new  laws  and  levy  no  taxes  without  consent  of  parliament.  The 
ecclesiastics  not  altogether  Englishmen,  but  held  large  possessions. 
The  Pope  also  drew  revenues  from  England.  The  peasantry  had  got 
free  from  feudal  servitude  and  were  becoming  a  wage-earning  class. 
Freedom  did  not  necessarily  make  them  materially  better  off.  They 
had  no  share  in  the  government,  but  there  was  nothing  in  the  laws 
to  prevent  their  getting  it.  Henry  VII.  was  a  Welshman,  and 
landed  in  Wales.  His  throne  precarious.  Other  claimants.  Lam- 
bert Simnel.  Perkin  Warbeck.  Henrj'  VII.'s  foreign  policy  was 
alliance  with  Spain.  Hence  the  marriage  with  Catherine  of  Arragon. 
Henry  VII.'s  domestic  policy.  His  position  as  regards  Parliament. 
His  minister.  Cardinal  Morton.  Order  maintained.  Middle  class 
favoured.  The  way  paved  for  the  union  of  England  and  Scotland. 
The  Welsh  finally  conciliated,  and  England's  colonial  empire  begun. 
The  tomb  of  Henry  VII 48 


,       CHAPTER  IV. 

THE   NEED   OF   REFORM   AND   DANGER  OF   REVOLUTION. 

(a)  The  Necessity  for  Reform. — Italy  and  Germany  not  yet  united  na- 
tions. The  lack  of  international  peace  and  justice.  The  serfdom 
of  the  German  peasantry  still  continued.  The  ecclesiastical  and 
scholastic  systems  needed  reform.  The  alternatives  were  reform  or 
revolution.         ........... 

(i)  The  Train  laid/or  Rciwlution. — Chiefly  among  the  German  peas- 
antry. Their  ecclesiastical  as  well  as  feudal  grievances.  Contem- 
porary testimony.  Successful  rebellion  of  the  Swiss  in  1315,  and  the 
peasants  of  the  Graubund  1441 — 71.  Unsuccessful  rebellion  of  the 
Lollards  and  Hussite  wars  1415 — 1436.  Threats  of  rebellion  in  Fran- 
conia  in  1476.  The  Bundschiih.  Rebellion  in  Kempten  1492.  In 
Elsass  1493.  Both  again  in  1501-2.  In  the  Black  Forest  1512-13, 
under  Joss  Fritz.  In  1514  in  Wiirtemberg  and  the  Austrian  Alps. 
The  Swabian  league  of  nobles  against  the  peasants.  Far  and  wide 
the  train  was  laid  for  future  revolution.  The  train  laid  not  where 
serfdom  was  at  its  worst,  but  where  freedom  was  nearest  in  sight. 


viii  Summary. 

PART  II. 

THE  PROTESTANT  REVOLUTION. 

CHAPTER  I. 

REVIVAL  OF  LEARNING  AND  REFORM  AT  FLORENCE. 

PAGE 

(a)  The  Revivers  of  Learning  at  Florence. — The  Republic  of  Flor- 
ence. Power  in  the  hands  of  the  Medici.  Cosmo  de' Medici  1389 
-1464.  Lorenzo  de' Medici  1448-1492.  Florence  the  Modern  Athens. 
Michael  Angelo.  The  Platonic  Academy,  Ficino,  Politian,  and 
Pico  della  Mirandola.  Semi  pagan  tendencies  of  the  revival  of 
learning.  ...........  68 

(b)  Tlie  great  Florentine  Refortner,  Girolamo  Savonarola,  1452-1498. 
—  He  becomes  a  religious  reformer.  Made  Prior  of  St.  Mark  at 
Florence.  Stirs  up  in  the  people  the  spirit  of  reform  and  freedom 
Death  of  Lorenzo  and  Innocent  VHL  The  French  Livasion  of 
Italy.  The  Medici  expelled.  The  republic  restored.  Savonarola's 
reforms.  He  becomes  fanatical.  Is  martyred  by  order  of  Pope 
Alexander  VI.         ..........  71 

(c)  Savonarola's  Influence  on  the  Revivers  of  Learning. — His  in- 
fluence over  Pico,  Politian,  and  Ficino.     ......      74 

(d)  Niccolo  Machiavelli,  1469-1527. — Secretary  to  the  Republic  at 
Florence,  and  then  serves  the  Medici.  Wrifes  '  The  Prince,'  in 
which  he  codifies  the  vicious  maxims  of  Italian  policy  since   called 

'  Machiavellian.' 75 

CHAPTER  II. 

THE  OXFORD   REFORMERS. 

(a)  The  Spirit  of  Revival  of  Learning  and  Reform  is  carried frotn 
Italy  to  Oxford. — Distinction  and  connection  between  the  revival 
of  learning  and  Religious  reform.  Both  against  the  Scholastic 
system.  The  reform  movement  crushed  at  Florence.  Revivers  of 
learning  at  Oxford.  Grocyn  and  Linacre  go  to  Italy,  and  return  to 
Oxford.  John  Colet  does  the  same.  Colet  unites  the  spirit  of  the 
new  learning  and  religious  reform.  ......  76 

{J>)  Colet,  JMore  and  Erasmus  join  in  fellow-ivork. — Lectures  on  St. 
Paul's  Epistles  at  Oxford.  Attacks  the  schoolmen.  He  urges 
also  the  need  of  ecclesiastical  reform.  Colet  attracts  disciples  and 
fellow  workers.  Thomas'More.  Erasmus.  Early  life  of  Erasmus. 
He  comes  to  Oxford.  Makes  friends  with  Colet  and  Thomas  More. 
Comes  under  Colet's  influence.  .......        78 

(r)  The  Oxford  students  are  scattered  till  the  Accession  of  Henry 
VIII. — Exactions  of  Empson  and  Dudley.  More  offends  Henry 
VII.     The  circle  of  Oxford  students  formed  again  in  London.         .       82 

(d)  On  the  accession  of  Henry  VIII.  they  covunence  their  fellolu- 
%vork.  Hopes  on  the  accession  of  Henry  VIII.  The  Oxford  stu- 
dents in  Court  favour.     Erasmus  Greek  professor  at  Cambridge.  84 

[e)  Erasmus  ^urites  his  '  Praise  of  Folly.' — Satire  on  the  scholastic 
theologians,  monks,  and  popes .       85 


Summary.  ix 

PAGE 

(/)  Colet  founds  St.  PauPs  School. — It  is  a  school  of  the  new  learning, 
and  excites  the  malice  of  men  of  the  old  school.  His  sermon  on 
Ecclesiastical  Reform.     Escapes  from  a  charge  of  heresy.         .         .     86 

{g)  The  Continental  liars  of  Henry  V^III.,  1511-1512. — The  Holy 
Alliance  against  France.  Henry  \  IH.'s  first  campaign.  Wolsey. 
Julius  II.  succeeded  by  Leo  X.  Henry  persists  in  invading  France. 
Gains  the  Battle  of  the  Spurs.  Scotch  invasion  of  England.  Battle 
of  Flodden.  Henry  VIII.  now  joins  France  against  Spain.  Louis 
XII.  succeeded  by  Francis  I.  Francis  I  invades  Italy  and  re- 
covers Milan.  Again  Spain  and  England  combine  against  France. 
These  wars  of  kings  against  the  interests  of  Europe,  and  tended  to 
make  kings  absolute.  The  e.xample  of  France.  Narrow  escape  of 
England.  Colet  preaches  against  the  wars.  Erasmus  is  against 
them  too,  and  also  More.  .         • 88 

(Ji)  The  kind  of  Refor7n  aimed  at  by  the  Oxford  Reformers. — Eras- 
mus made  a  Councillor  of  Prince  Charles.  More  drawn  into  Henry 
VIIl.'s  service.  The  'Christian  Prince '  of  Erasmus.  More's 
'  Utopia.'  They  entered  thoroughly  into  the  spirit  of  modern 
civilization.  The  character  of  their  religious  reform.  The  New 
Testament  of  Erasmus.  The  kind  of  ecclesiastical  reform  urged  by 
the  Oxford  Reformers.  They  aimed  at  a  broad  and  tolerant  Church, 
and  were  likely  to  oppose  schism 93 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  WITTENBERG  REFORMERS. 

(a)  Martin  Luther  becomes,  a  Reformer. — Luther  born  1483.  Sent  to 
school  and  to  the  University  of  Erfurt.  Becomes  a  monk.  Adopts 
the  theology  of  St.  Augustine,  and  in  this  differed  from  the  O.xford 
Reformers.  He  removes  to  Wittenberg.  Visits  Rome.  Reads  the 
New  Testament  of  Erasmus  and  finds  out  the  difference  in  their 
theology.  . 97 

(b)  The  Sale  of  Indulgences. — Leo  X.'s  scheme  to  get  money  by  in- 
dulgences. Offers  princes  a  share  in  the  spoil.  Erasmus  writes 
bitterly  against  it,  but  pope  and  kings  will  not  listen.  .        .  100 

(c)  Luther's  Attack  on  Indulgences. — Tetzel  comes  near  Wittenberg 
selling  Indulgences.  Luther's  theses  against  indulgences.  He  is 
backed  by  the  Elector  of  Saxony.  Philip  Melanchthon  comes  to 
Wittenberg. loi 

(d)  The  Election  of  Charles  V.  to  the  Empire  {\^\r)). — Death  of  Maxi- 
milian, Candidates  for  the  Empire.  Charles  V.  elected  through 
the  influence  of  the  Elector  of  Saxony.  Extent  of  Charles  V.'s 
rule.         ............         103 

(f)  Luther' s  Breach  with  Rome. — Luther  finds  himself  a  Hussite. 
Rumoured  Papal  Bull  against  Luther.  Luther's  pamphlet  to  the 
nobility  of  the  German  nation,  and  another  on  the  '  Babylonish 
Captivity  of  the  Church.'      The  Bull  arrives.         ....       106 

(J)  The  Elector  of  Saxony  consults  Erasvius,  Dec  6,  1520. — Aleander, 
the  Pope's  nuncio,  tries  to  win  over  the  Elector  of  Saxony.  The 
Elector  asks  advice  of  Erasmus.  The  advice  of  Erasmus.  The 
Elector  follows  it,  and  urges  moderation  on  Luther.         .         .         .     108 

'ig)  Luther  burns  the  Pope' s  Bull,  Dec.  10,  1520,  notwithstanding  the 
cautions  of  the  Elector.     Erasmus  fears  revolution.         .         .         .     iji 


X  Summary. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

THE   CRISIS. — REFORM    OR    REVOLUTION. — REFORM   REFUSED 
BY   THE   RULING   POWERS. 

PAGE 

(a)  Ulrich  von  Hutten  and  Franz  von  Sickingen. — The  Robin  Hoods 
of  Germany  side  with  Luther.  Ulrich  von  Hutten.  His  satire 
upon  Rome.  His  German  popular  rhymes  against  Rome.  De- 
mands freedom.     Small  chances  of  Reform.         ....         113 

{b)  The  Diet  0/  Worms  meets  zSth  yanuary,  1521. — '  Agenda'  at  the 
Diet  of  Worms  :  to  stop  private  war,  to  settle  disputes,  to  provide 
central  power  in  the  Emperor's  absence,  and  to  take  notice  of  the 
books  of  Martin  Luther.  No  hope  for  the  peasantry.  Brief  from 
Rome  about  Luther.  The  Electors  hesitate  to  sanction  the  edict 
against  Luther.  Hutten  adjures  the  Emperor  not  to  yield  to  Rome. 
Luther  summoned  to  Worms.         .         .         .....         115 

(c)  Luther  s  yourney  to  H'ortns  (i $21).  Luther's  Antithesis  of  Christ 
and  Antichrist.  Luther  sets  off  for  Worms.  His  journey.  Popular 
excitement.     Luther's  heroic  firmness.     He  enters  Worms.         .         115 

(</)  Luther  be/ore  the  Diet. — Luther's  first  appearance  before  the  Diet. 
He  asks  for  time  to  consider  his  answer.  They  give  him  till  the 
next  day.  Excitement  in  Worms,  Luther's  second  appearance 
before  the  Diet.  His  speech.  Repeats  his  speech  in  Latin.  Re- 
fuses to  recant.  1  he  Emperor  decides  against  Luther.  Threats  of 
Revolution.  The  Electors  urge  delay.  Luther  leaves  Worms. 
What  Luther  did  at  Worms  for  Germany  and  for  Christendom.  127 

(e)  Edict  Against  Luther. — Fears  of  the  papal  party.  Rumours  of 
Luther's  capture.  The  Elector  of  Saxony  leaves  Worms.  Treaty 
between  Charles  V.  and  the  Pope.  The  Edict  issued  against  Lu- 
ther.    Letter  from  Valdez,  the  Emperor's  secretary.         .         .         .     129 

(/)  Political  Reasons  for  the  Decision  at  Worms. — Rivalship  between 
Spain  and  France.  Intrigues  of  princes.  France  the  common 
enemy  of  the  Pope,  Spain,  and  England.  Reform  refused  by  the 
ruling  powers  from  political  motives. 132 

CHAPTER  V. 

REVOLUTION. 

(a)  The  Prophets  of  Revolution. — Popular  feeling  against  the  Edict. 
Luther  in  the  Wartburg.  In  his  absence  wilder  spirits  take  the  lead. 
The  prophets  of  Zwickau.  Luther  comes  back  to  Wittenberg  and 
confronts  the  prophets.  His  common  sense  prevails.  The  prophets 
driven  from  Wittenberg.  Mijnzer  becomes  the  prophet  of  the  peas- 
antry.    13s 

{b)  The  End  of  Sickingen  and  Hutten. — The  Council  of  Regency 
under  the  Elector  of  Saxony  strives  to  avert  the  storm,  but  meets 
with  opposition.  Franz  von  Sickingen  takes  to  the  sword,  but  is 
defeated  and  killed.  Hutten's  death.  The  peasantry  get  nothing 
from  the  knights 138 

U)  The  Peasants'  War. — Carlstadt  and  MUnzer  stir  up  rebelli'^n.  In- 
surrection of  the  peasantry  in  Swabia.  Their  twelve  articles.  Not 
likely  to  be  granted  by  either  Pope,  nobles,  rr  Luther.  Swabian 
peasants  crushed  in  April,  1525.  Insurrection  on  the  Neckar, 
April,  1525.  '1  he  peasants'  revenge  for  Swabian  slaughters.  'I'he 
retaliation  of  the  nobles.  May,  1525.  Insurrection  in  Franc^nia. 
Revolution  in  the  towns  of  Franconia.     Diary  of  a  citizen  of  Roth? 


Summary. 


PAGB 

enburg.  Insurrection  in  Elsass'and  Lorraine  put  down,  May,  1525. 
Insurrection  in  Bavaria,  the  Tyrol,  and  Carinthia.  MUnzer  heads 
an  insurrection  in  Thuringia.  His  mad  proclamation.  Death  of 
Miinzer.  The  attitude  of  Luther  during  the  Peasants'  War.  Who 
was  really  to  blame?  Death  of  the  Elector  of  Saxony,  May,  1525.  140 
(d)  The  Sack  0/ Rome,  1527.— Alliance  of  the  Pope  and  the  Emperor 
against  France.  Henry  VIII.  joins  it.  Pope  Leo  X.  dies,  1521. 
Adrian  VI.  and  Clement  VII.  Pope,  1523.  Duke  of  Bourbon  joins 
the  league  against  France.  Francis  I.  crosses  the  Alps,  but  made 
prisoner  at  the  battle  of  Pavia.  Rupture  between  Charles  V.  and 
the  Pope.  Result  of  the  Diet  of  Spires.  March  of  a  German 
army  on  Rome.     The  Sack  of  Rome.     Result  of  the  Papal  policy.  154 


PART  III. 

RESULTS   OF  THE  PROTESTANT 
REVOLUTION. 

CHAPTER  I. 

REVOLTS   FROM    ROME, 
(l.)   IN   SWITZERLAND   AND   GERMANY. 

(a)  Meaning  of  Revolt  from  Rome. — Apolitical  change.  The  Teutonic 
nations  revolted  ;  the  Romanic  nations  remained  under  Rome.  In 
some  nations  there  was  a  national  revolt ;  in  some  divided  action 
and  civil  wars.         ..........        160 

((5)  The  Revolt  in  Szuitzerland. — Switzerland  divided  into  cantons. 
Civil  power  vested  in  the  people.  Ulrich  Zwingle  the  Swiss  re- 
former, .settles  at  Zurich.  Zurich  assumes  to  itself  ecclesiastical 
powers.  Berne  does  the  same  soon  after.  Civil  war.  Peace  of 
Cappel.     Characte-  of  Zwingle.     Luther  quarrels  with  Zwingle.         163 

(c)  'The  Revolt  in  Germany. — The  freedom  of  the  German  peasantry 
postponed  for  ten  generations.  The  Diet  of  Spires,  1526,  left  each 
state  to  take  its  own  course  about  Luther.  Hence  arose  Protestant 
states,  with  national  churches  free  from  Rome,  while  others  re- 
mained Catholic.  The  second  Diet  of  Spires,  1529,  reversed  the 
decision,  notwithstanding  the  protest  of  the  Protestant  ^x\\\c<fs. 
Civil  war  averted  by  the  Turks'  attack  on  Vienna.  The  Turks 
driven  back.     Charles  V.  turned  again  upon  German  heretics.  Diet 

of   Augsburg.     The   '  Augsburg   Confession.'      Protestant   princes 

form  the  league  of  Schmalkald  ibr  mutual  defence.  Civil  war  post- 
poned during  Luther's  life,  but  it  begins  soon  after  his  death. 
Spanish  conquest  of  Germany.  Revolt  of  the  Protestant  princes. 
Defeat  of  Charles  V.;  his  abdication  and  death.  The  Peace  of 
Augsburg  (1555)  and  its  rule  of  mock  toleration.  Evils  brought 
upon  Germany  by  Lharles  V.'s  policy 166 


Summary. 


CHAPTER  II. 

REVOLT  OF  ENGLAND  FROM  ROME. 

PAGE. 

{a)   Its  Political  Character . — In  England  the   revolt  from   Rome  was 

national  and  came  at  first  from  political  causes.         .         .         .         .171 

(b)  Redsotis for  Henry  I'/IL's  Loyalty  to  Koine. — Henry  VIII.  de- 
fends the  divine  authority  of  the  Pope,  and  writes  a  book  against 
Luther  in  1521.  He  tells  Sir  Thomas  More  of  a  secret  reason  for 
it.  Henry  VIII.'s  marriage  with  Catherine  of  Arragon.  Secret 
doubts  about  its  validity.  Its  unsatisfactory  beginning.  Its  validity 
rested  on  the  divine  authority  of  the  Pope.  Henry  VIII.'s  anxiety 
about  it  and  the  succession.  His  anxiety  to  keep  on  good  terms 
with  the  Pope  and  Charles  V.  Execution  of  the  Duke  of  Bucking- 
ham for  having  his  eye  upon  the  succession  to  the  throne.         .  172 

(c)  Sir  Thomas  More  dejends  Henry  VHI.  against  Luther. — Effect 
of  the  knowledge  of  Henrj'  VIII.'s  secret  reasons  on  Sir  Thomas 
More's  mind.  Reaction  in  the  minds  of  Erasmus  and  More  against 
Luther.         ...........  176 

{d)  Reasons /or  Henry  VIII.'s  Change  o_f  Policy. — Wolsey  the  great 
war  minister  of  Henry  VIIL  More  opposed  to  the  wars  with 
France.  Charles  V.'s  treachery,  and  the  Pope's.  Henry  VIII.'s 
foreign  policy  all  at  sea  again.  ......  178 

{e)  The  Crisis. — Henry  VIII.  deterjiiines  upon  the  Divorce  Jroni 
Catherine  0/ Arragon. — Results  of  breach  with  Spain.  Political 
reasons  for  the  divorce  from  Catherine.  Wolsey  tries  to  get  the 
Pope  to  grant  a  divorce,  but  fails.  Henry  VIII.  takes  the  matter 
into  his  own  hands.         .........         180 

{/)   Fall 0/ Wolsey  (i^zg-i^-^o.)  181 

(g)  The  Parliament  o_fi^2')-i^2f'.  Rez'olt  0/ England/rom  Rome. — 
Sir  Thomas  More  lord  chancellor.  Parliament  of  1529  a  crisis  in 
English  history,  like  the  Diet  of  Worms  in  German  history.  Com- 
plaints against  the  clergy  and  ecclesiastical  abuses.  Wolsey's  at- 
tempts at  ecclesiastical  reform  under  papal  authority.  The  king 
and  parliament  now  take  up  the  matter.  Petition  of  the  Commons 
against  ecclesiastical  grievances.  Practical  reforms.  The  divorce 
onestion  laid  before  the  universities  by  Cranmer.  Farther  reforms. 
"The  king  declared  supreme  head  of  the  l.hurch  of  England  instead 
of  the  Pope.  'Ihe  king  marries  Annie  Boleyn.  The  revolt  of  Eng- 
land from  Rome  is  now  completed.         ......        182 

(A)  Heresy  still  punished  in  England. — There  had  been  no  change  of 
religious  creed.  Heretics  still  persecuted,  and  among  them  Tindal, 
tl>e  translator  of  the  New  festament.  Sir  Thomas  More's  zeal 
against  heresy. 185 

(/)  .Execution  of  Sir  Thomas  More. — More  himself  has  to  suffer  for 
conscience'  sake.  More  and  Fisher  sent  to  the  Tower.  Execution  of 
Sir  Thomas  More  and  Bishop  Fisher. 186 

{k)   Death  of  Erasmus  in  1536. — Review  of  the  results  produced  by  the 

work  of  the  Oxford  Reformers.  ......  190 

(/)  Dissolution  o/the  Monasteries  and  Reform  of  the  Universities. — 
Ihe  work  set  a-going  by  the  Oxford  Reformers  goes  on.  Cromwell 
now  ecclesiastical  minister  of  Henry  VIII.,  inquires  into  the  state 
of  the  monasteries.  Dissolution  of  the  monasteries  and  destruction 
of  shrines.  Reform  of  the  Universities.  Parliament  of  1529-36 
dissolved.  Tindal's  translation  of  the  Bible  sanctioned.  Martyrdom 
of  Tindal 191 

(w)  Later  Years  of  Henry  VIII. — Execution  of  Anne  Boleyn.  Henry 
VIII.  marries  Jane  Seymour.  A  Catholic  rebellion  breaks  out  in 
the  North,  fomented  by  the  Pope  and  Keginald  Pole,  but  is  quelled. 


Summary.  xiii 

PAGE 

Birth  of  Edward  VI.  and  death  of  the  queen.  Henrj-  VIII.  marries 
Anne  of  Clcves,  but  does  not  like  her.  Cromwell  sacrificed  to  get 
rid  of  her.  Reconciliation  with  Charles  V.  Henry  VIII. 's  last  two 
marriages.  Alliance  with  Spain,  and  wars  with  France.  Want  of 
money.  Death  of  Henry  VlII.  in  1547.  Reform  goes  on  during 
the  reign  of  Edward  VI.  Catholic  reaction  under  Queen  Mary. 
England  becomes  finally  Protestant  under  Queen  Elizabeth.  .  193 
(»)  Injluetire  0/ Henry  I'lII.'s  Reign  on  the  English  Constitution. — 
How  far  the  constitution  was  maintained.  The  revolt  from  Rome 
accomplished  by  constitutional  means.  The  power  of  Parliament 
maintained.  It  preserved  its  control  over  taxation,  and  over  the 
making  of  new  laws.  On  the  whole,  the  Parliaments  of  Henrj' VIII. 
deserve  well  of  Englishmen.  Unj\ist  state  trials  the  chief  blot  on 
the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.  England  fared  much  better  than  France 
and  Spain. 196 

CHAPTER  III. 

REVOLT   OF   DENMARK    AND   SWEDEN   AND   (lATER)   OF 
THE   NETHERLANDS. 

(a)  Dentnark  and  Siveden. — Both  Denmark  and  Sweden  throw  off  the 
yoke  of  Chris  tian  II.  and  then  separate.  The  Swedes  elect  Gus- 
tavus  Vasa  king.  Sweden,  under  him,  becomes  a  Protestant  nation. 
Denmark  also,  under  her  new  king,  becomes  Protestant.         .         .     199 

((5)  The  Revolt  oj  the  A'ethe?-lands.—Po\\cy  of  Philip  II.  to  subject  the 
Netherlanders  to  Spain  and  to  Rome.  They  revolt,  and  the  '  United 
Provinces  '  become  a  Protestant  nation.         .....         200 

CHAPTER  IV. 

THE   GENEVAN   REFORMERS. 

(a)  Rise  of  a  Nenv  School  of  Reform. — A  Protestant  movement  which 
was  not  national,  but  which  influenced  the  Protestants  of  France, 
England,  Scotland,  and  America  more  than   Luther  did.         .         .       zoi 

{b)  John  Calvin. — His  'Institutes  '  gave  logical  form  to  the  '  Calvinistic 
doctrines.  Calvin  settles  at  Geneva.  Becomes  a  kind  of  dictator 
of  the  Genevan  state.  His  severe  discipline  and  intolerance.  He 
founds  schools .         202 

(c)  fnfuence  of  the  Gene^/an  School  on  Western  Protestantism. — The 
French  Huguenots,  the  Scotch  Covenanters,  the  English  Puritans, 
the  Pilgritn  Fathers  of  New  England,  all  of  the  Genevan  school. 
Their  historical  importance,  and  influence  on  national  character.       204 

CHAPTER  V. 

REFORM   WITHIN  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH. 

(a)  The  Italian  Reformers. — Efforts  at  Reform  within  the  Church. 
Improvement  in  the  character  of  Popes.  The  Mediating  Reformers 
of  Italy.  Valdez,  Pole,  Contarini.  Paul  III.  makes  some  of  them 
Cardinals.  Chances  of  a  reconciliation  with  Protestants  under 
Paul  III.  Contarini  and  Melanchthon  try  to  makepeace  at  the 
Diet  of  Ratisbon.but  the  Pope  draws  back,  and  Luther  also. 
Everything  left  over  till  the  Council  of  Trent 203 


xiv  Su77imary. 

PAGE 

(b)  The  71011)  Order  of  the  Society  of  Jeszis. — Ignatius  Loyola,  a  Span- 
ish knight.  He  is  wounded  in  1521.  Resolves  to  become  a  general 
of  an  army  of  saints  instead  of  soldieis.  His  austerities.  Resolves 
to  found  the  '  Order  of  Jesus.'  To  prepare  himself,  studies  at  the 
University  of  Paris.  At  Paris  meets  Francis  Xavier.  Xavier 
becomes  a  disciple,  and  the  great  Jesuit  missionary  to  the  Indies, 
China  and  Japan.  Character  of  the  Jesuits.  Their  success  and 
influence.     Causes  of  their  ultimate  tmpopularity.         .         .         .        208 

(c)  1  he  Council  of  Trent, — Council  of  Trent  meets  in  1545.  The 
Jesuits  prevail  over  the  mediating  Reformers.  The  Inquisition 
introduced  into  Rome  by  Caraffa,  afterwards  Pope  Paul  IV.  The 
Council  adjourned  till  1525,  under  Paul  IV.  The  Roman  Catholic 
Church  reformed  in  morals,  but  made  more  rigid  than  ever  in  creed.  212 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  FUTURE  OF  SPAIN  AND  PRANCE. 

(a)  The  Future  of  Spain. — Growth  of  absolute  monarchy  in  Spain. 
Philip  II.  in  close  league  with  the  Papacy.  Seeks  to  establish 
Spanish  and  Papal  supremacy  together.   Fatal  results  of  his  policy.    214 

(b)  The  Future  of  France. — Everything  sacrificed  to  gratily  the  am- 
bition of  the  absolute  monarchy  under  Francis  I.  The  curse  which 
the  absolute  monarchy  was  to  France.  Struggle  with  the  Hugue- 
nots in  France,  Massacre  ot  St.  Bartholomew  in  1572.  Toleration 
for  a  time  under  the  Edict  of  Nantes.  Its  revocation  in  1685,  and 
the  banishment  of  the  Huguenots,  who  came  to  England.         .  216 


CHAPTER  VII. 

GENERAL   RESULTS   OF  THE   ERA   OF   THE   PROTESTANT   REVOLUTION 

(a)  On  the  Groiuth  of  National  Life. — Influence  of  the  Protestant 
Revolution  on  national  life — where  it  succeeded — where  it  failed — 
where  it  partly  failed  and  partly  succeeded.         ....  218 

{b)  On  the  Relations  of  Nations  to  each  other. — Small  improvement  in 
the  dealings  between  Nations.  The  O.xford  Reforniers  not  listened 
to  in  this.  Henry  VIII.  the  last  English  king  to  dream  of  recover- 
ing France.     Hugo  Grotius  afterwards  urges  International  reform.     219 

(f)  Infiience  on  the  Growth  of  National  Laneuages  and  Literature. 
— Luther's  Bible  and  Hymns  fix  the  character  of  the  German  lan- 
guage. Influence  of  Calvin's  writings  on  the  French  language. 
Influence  of  Tin^al's  New  Testament  on  the  English  version  of  the 
Bible,  and  so  upon  the  English  language.         .....       220 

(dj  Effects  in  Stitnulating  National  Education.- — Schools  founded  by 
Savonarola,  Colet,  Luther,  Calvin,  Kno.x,  the  Pilgrim  Fathers,  and 
the  Jesuits.  ...........  222 

( e)   Influence  on  Domestic  Life — Political  importance   of  domestic  life. 
Danger  to  it  from  the  existence  in  a  country  of  large  celibate  classes. 
Dissolution  of  monasteries  and  permission  to  the  clergy  to  marry,  a 
^^~~Step  gained  for  modern  civilization.  ......       223 

\\f)    Influence  on  Popular  Religion. — The  Protestant  movement  popu- 
larized religion,  and  strengthened  individual  conviction.         .         .     223 


Su?nmary.  xv 


{g)  Watii  of  Process  in  Toleration. — Change  from  Catholic  to  Pro- 
testant creeds  was  change  from  one  rigid  scholastic  creed  to  others, 
equally  rigid.  Small  connection  between  claiming  freedom  of 
thought  and  conceding  it  to  others.  Persecution  did  not  make  the 
persecuted  tolerant.  Yet  toleration  was  after  all  one  of  the  ulti- 
mate results  of  the  Protestant  revolution.  .....     225 

(A)  The  Causes  luhy  the  Success  0/ the  Era  ivas  so  partial. — Progress 
must  be  gradual.  Limited  by  the  range  of  knowledge.  Limited 
view  of  the  universe.  The  earth  still  thought  to  be  in  the  centre. 
The  crystalline  spheres.  Heaven  beyond.  The  motion  of  the 
spheres  regarded  with  awe,  and  in  popular  superstition  referred  to 
angels.  Astrology  laughed  at  by  some  but  believed  in  by  others. 
Belief  in  visions  and  inspirations,  and  in  prodigies.  Universal  be- 
lief in  witchcraft.  Witches  as  well  as  heretics  burned.  Barbar- 
ism of  ciiminallaw  everywhere.  The  age  not  prepared  for  tolera- 
tion.        ....."..,...         227 

(i)  Beginning  of  Progress  in  Scientific  Inquiry. — The  range  of  geo- 
graphical and  astronomical  knowledge  widened.  Nicolas  Coperni- 
cus argues  that  the  sun  is  in  the  centre  of  the  universe.  His  great 
work  not  published  till  he  was  on  his  death-bed.  He  was  followed 
by  Tycho  Brahe,  Kepler  and  Galileo  before  the  century  was  closed.  231 


CHAPTER  VHL 

ECONOMIC   RESULTS   OF   THE   ERA. 

Results  of  the  Era  on  what  remained  of  the  feudal  system.  In  Ger- 
many, personal  services  continued.  In  France,  feudal  rents  and 
payments  chiefly  in  kind  continued  till  1798.  In  England,  feudal 
rents  were  chiefly  in  fixed  money  payments.  Effect  of  the  dis- 
covery of  the  silver  mines  in  the  New  World.  The  fall  In  the  value 
of  money  caused  a  great  rise  in  prices.  German  peasants'  services 
not  lessened  by  it  ;  nor  the  French  peasants'  rents  in  produce,  but 
it  reduced  the  burden  of  the  English  peasants'  rents  in  money  to 
one-sixth  or  one-eighth  of  the  value  of  the  land.  This  would  have 
made  them  peasant  proprietors  had  they  held  on  to  their  land,  but 
their  tendency  was  to  leave  their  land  and  become  labourers  for 
wages.  Change  from  peasant  proprietorship  of  land  and  of  looms 
to  labour  for  wages  chiefly  the  result  of  the  growth  of  commerce 
and  capital  and  the  use  of  machinery.  These  changes  had  begun 
in  the  sixteenth  century,  and  they  completed  the  silent  downfall  of 
the  feudal  system  in  England 233 


CONC  LUSION. 

The  Protestant  Revolution  was  the  beginning  of  a  great  revolutionary 
wave  which  broke  in  the  French  revolution  of  1798.  The  move- 
ment was  inevitable,  and  might  have  been  peacefully  met  and  aided 
by  timely  reforms  ;  but  the  refusal  of  reform  at  the  time  of  the 
cnsis  involved  ten  generations  in  the  tnrmoils  of  revolution.         .       237 


MAPS. 

Ai  the  beginning. 

1.  Christendom,  &c. 

2.  The  Commerce  of  Christendom. 

At  the  end. 

3.  Serfdom,  and  Rebellions  against  it, 

before  1 51 5. 

4.  The  Peasants'  War,  1525. 


ERA 


PROTESTANT    REVOLUTION. 


PART  I. 

STATE  OF  CHRISTENDOM. 
CHAPTER   I. 

INTRODUCTORY. 

[a]    The  Small  Extent  of  Christendom. 

In  the  map  at  the  beginning  of  this  volume  the  light 

portion  marks  the  Old  World  as  it  was  known  at  the 

commencement  of  the  era  of  which  we  have  to  speak. 

A  glance  will  show  how  small  a  portion  of  the  known 

world  belonged  to  Christendom — that  marked  red  and 

striked  red.     And  only  the  red  part  belonged    ^^ 

■'  "^  .  .  1  hesmallness 

to   Western    or   Roman    ChristendorA,    with    ofchristen- 
which  we  have  mostly  to  do.    The  part  striped    °^' 
red  had  long  ago  severed  itself  from  the  Western  and 
belonged  to  the  Eastern  Church,  which  by  the  Roman 
was  regarded  as  heretical  and  alien.     Thus  the  Christen- 
dom of  which    Rome  was   the  capital   embraced   only 
the  western  half  of  the  little  peninsula  of  Europe.     And 
not  even  all  that.     For  there  was  a  little  bit  of  Spain 
(marked  blue)  which  did  not  belong  to  Christendom. 
B 


2  State  of  Christendom.  pt.  i. 

We  may  note  next  how  much  smaller  Christendom 
was  than  it  had  once  been.  It  had  once  covered  not  only 
^     „      ,  the  parts  coloured  red  and  striped  red,  but 

Smaller  than  '■  '■ 

it  once  had  also  those  coloured  dark  blue,  i.  e.  all  Europe, 
Asia  Minor,  and  the  African  shores  of  the 
Mediterranean  Sea.  But  the  dark  blue  portions  had  been 
conquered  from  Christendom  by  her  great  rival  Moham- 
„,     ,,  ,  medan  power,  whose  relijjion,  thou!?!!  only 

The  Moham-  ^  .  ■  i  , 

medan  power,    half  as  old  as  Christianity,  was  thought  to 
number  many  times  as  many  adherents  as 
there  were  Christians,  and  covered  a  much  larger  area 
than  Christendom — all  the  countries  marked  blue. 

More  than  700  years — twenty  generations — ago  the 
Mohammedan  Moors,  after  conquering  the  African  shores 
^,    ,    ,  .         of  the  Mediterranean,  had  pushed  on  into 

Checked  in  .  .      ^ 

the  West.  Spain  and  threatened  Christendom  from  the 

West.  Defeated  and  checked  at  the  great  battle  of  Tours 
in  732,  after  a  struggle  of  700  years  they  still  held  a  foot- 
hold in  Spain — the  rich  southern  province  of  Granada. 
But  whilst  checked  in  the  West,  Mohammedan  arms 
had  recently  been  encroaching  more  and  more  upon 
Christendom  from   the   East.     Turkey  and 

But  en-  ^ 

croaching  from  Hungary  had  fallen  into  their  hands,  and  m 
1453,  /.  e.  in  the  lifetime  of  the  fathers  of  the 
men  of  the  new  era,  Constantinople  had  been  taken  by 
the  Turks.  The  old  capital  of  the  Eastern  Roman 
Empire  now  became  the  capital  of  the  great  Ottom.an 
Empire.  We  see  then  how  near  to  Rome  Turkish  con- 
quests had  come.  Only  the  Adriatic  separated  the  Otto- 
man Empire  from  Italy.  Once  the  Turks  had  even  got  a 
footing  in  the  heel  of  Italy.  It  really  seemed  not  unlikely 
that  the  capital  of  Christendom  might  itself  some  day 
fall  into  their  hands. 


CH.  I.  Introductory.  3 

No  wonder  the  Turks  were  the  terror  of  the  Chris- 
tians. And  yet  they  had  one  thing  in  common,  and  it  is 
well  that  we  should  remember  it.  They  were  worshippers 
of  the  same  God.     Both  Christians  and  Mo-    ^,.    .. 

Kinship 

hammedans  professed  to  trace  back  their   between  Chris- 

...  ,  ,        ,  ,^,  ,     _,     .  ,  tians,  Moham- 

faith  to  Abraham.    Though  Christendom  was    medans,  and 
small  and  dwindling,  the  area  of  the  religion   J^^^" 
inherited  from  Abraham  was  large  and  in-    „ 

°  But  they  hate 

creasing.   But  this  was  no  consolation  to  men    one  another. 
to  whom  their  fellow  Christians  of  the  East- 
ern Church  were  heretics,  the  'unbelieving  Jews'  the  ob- 
jects of  scorn,  and  the  'infidel'  Turks  of  terror. 

(1^)    The  Signs  of  New  Life  in   Christendom. 

Christendom  had  never  felt  herself  so  small  or  so  be- 
set with  enemies.  And  yet  there  were  signs  of  a  new 
life  springing  up.  The  new  era  was  to  be  one  of  hope 
and  progress. 

The  Crusades  of  the  Christian  nations,  intended  to 
dislodge  the  '  Infidel '  out  of  Jerusalem,  though  they  had 
failedinthatobjcct,  had  awakened  Europe  to    ^„ 

Influence  of 

new  life.  East  and  West  were  brought  nearer   the  Cmsades. 
together.  Knights  and  soldiers  and  pilgrims 
brought  home  from  new  lands  new  thoughts  and  wider 
notions.    Commerce  with  the  East  was  extended.    Mari- 
time enterprise  was  stimulated.     There  was 

,   .        ,  .  „,  .         ,  Inventions. 

improvement  in  ships.    Ihe  manner  s  com- 
pass was  discovered,  and  under  its  guidance  longer  voya- 
ges could  safely  be  made.    The  invention  of  ^  „   ^^ 

Fall  of  Con- 
gunpowder  had  changed    the  character  of  stantinopic. 

war  and  enlarged  the  scale  on  which  it  was  waged.  The 
recent  conquests  of  the  Turks  were  indirectly  the  cause 
of  new  life  to  Christendom.  The  fall  of  Con-   ,         ,    , 

Rtvivul  of 

stantinople   resulted   in    a  great   revival  of  learning. 


4  State  of  Christendom.  pt.  I. 

learning  in  Europe.  Driven  from  the  East,  learned 
Greeks  and  Jews  came  to  settle  in  Italy.  Greek  and 
Hebrew  were  again  studied  in  Europe.  The  literature, 
the  history,  the  poetry,  the  philosophy  and  arts  of  old 
Greece  and  Rome  were  revived.  And  the  result  was 
that  a  succession  of  poets,  painters,  sculptors,  and  histo- 
rians sprang  up  in  Christendom  such  as  had  not  been 
known  for  centuries.     Above  all  the  inven- 

Printing.  .  .      .  ^  ... 

tion  01  pnntmg  had  come  just  m  time  to 
spread  whatever  new  ideas  were  afloat  with  a  rapidity 
never  known  before. 

(f)  The  Wide7ii}ig  of  Christendom. 
So  it  is  easy  to  see  there  were  abundant  signs  of  new 
life  in  Christendom,  however  small,  and  hemmed  in,  and 
threatened  she  might  be.  A  new  era  was  coming  on, 
and  now  observe  how  Christendom  was  widened,  and 
fresh  room  found  for  the  civilization  of  the  new  era  to 
work  in. 

(i)  In  1491  the  Moors  were  at  last  and  for  ever  driven 

out  of  Spain  by  the  conquest  of  Granada  by 

out  of  Spain.       Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  and  men  felt  that  a 

turn  had  com^e  in  the  tide  of  victory  in  favour 

of  Christians. 

(2)  In  1492  came  the  discovery  of  the  New  World  by 
Columbus,    followed    up   by  the   Spanish   conquests  of 

Mexico  and  Peru,  the  Portuguese  settle- 
Discovery  of  .  _,  .,  .  .  -  ^ 
America.  mcnts  m  Brazil,  and  the  gaining  of  a  foot- 
hold in  the  New  World  by  Sebastian  Cabot  for  England 
— the  embryo  of  those  great  colonies,  the  New  England, 
or  extension  of  England  across  the  Atlantic,  in  which 
half  the  English  people  now  dwell. 

(3)  In  1497  Vasco  de  Gama  sailed  for  the  first  time 
round  the  Cape  of  Good    Hope,  and  a  new  way  was 


CH.  I.  Introductojy.  5 

opened  to  Asia  and  the  East  Indies,  and 

'■  ^  New  way  to 

out  of  this  in  the  far  future  came  England's       East  Indies. 
'Indian  Empire  and  Australian  colonies. 

Looking  again  at  the  map,  and  adding  to  the  Old 
World  the  countries  coloured  in  shadow  which  were 
brought  to  light  mostly  during  the  childhood  of  the  men 
of  the  new  era,  we  cannot  wonder  that  they  spoke  of 
them  as  belonging  to  a  '  fiew  world.'  And  bearing  in 
mind  that  having  reached  the  West  Indies,  knowing  of 
no  Pacific  Ocean  between,  they  thought  they  had 
reached  the  East  Indies  from  the  west,  and  so  had  been, 
as  it  were,  round  the  world,  we  may  realize  how  grand 
the  new  discoveries  must  have  seemed  to  them.  Men  of 
that  day  did  not  of  course  realize  what  we  know  now, 
how  wide  a  field  these  new  discoveries  would  open  for 
Christian  civilization  to  extend  itself  into.  But  still  they 
gave  an  immediate  feeling  of  relief  to  pent-up  Christen- 
dom, a  spur  to  commerce  and  maritime  en-    ,,    , 

'  _  _  Men  s  minds 

terprise,  new  light  to  science,  new  sources    prepared  for 
of  wealth,  and  new  direction  to  the  energies   ^"^^^  '^^'^"  ^" 
of  nations,  and  more  or  less  to  all  men  a  sense  that  they 
were  living  in  an  age  of  progress  and  change  which  pre- 
pared them  to  look  into  the  future  with  hope,  and  to  ex- 
pect great  events  to  happen  in  their  time. 

{(f)    The  New  Era  one  of  Progress  in   Civilization. 
In  what  Modern   Civilization   Consists. 

The  work  of  the  new  era  was  to  gain  for  Christendom 
a  fresh  step  in  the  onward  course  of  civilization. 

And  when  we  speak  of  advance  in  civilization,  what 
do  we  mean  ?    Not  simply  advance  in  popu- 
lation,  wealth,  luxury,  but   far  more,  that   tion  is. 
which  is  hid  in  the  derivation  of  the  word, 
viz.,  advance  in  the  art  of  living-  together  in  civil  society. 


State  of  Christendom. 


PT.   I. 


And  in  order  clearly  to  understand  the  work  that  was 
to  be  done  in  this  era  of  prpgress,  we  must  understand 
the  difference  between  (i)  the  old  form  of  civilization 
which  was  to  be  left  behind  and  (2)  the  new  form  of 
civilization  towards  which  fresh  steps  were  to  be  gained. 

(i)  The  old  Roman  civilization  had  come  about  by 
the  conquest  of  the  uncivilized  tribes  of  Western  Europe 
„,      , ,  bv  the  Romans,  by  their  makine  the  known 

The  old  Ro-  -  '      -^  .         ^ 

man  civiliza-  world  iuto  oue  great  empire,  bnngmg  all  its 
ends  together  by  making  roads,  encoura- 
ging commerce,  making  the  Latin  language  understood 
by  the  educated  all 
over  it,  and  Rome  the 
centre  of  it  all.  The 
Roman  Empire  was  in 
fact  a  network  of  Ro- 
man towns,  with  all  the 
threads  of  it  drawn  to- 
wards Rome.  These 
towns  were  camps, 
from  which  the  con- 
querors ruled  the  dis- 
tricts round.  Little 
account  was  taken  of 
the     country     people. 

They  were  looked  upon  as  hopelessly  rustic  and  barba- 
rian. Under  this  system  all  the  conquered  countries 
were  made  provinces  of  the  Roman  Empire,  not  for  their 
own  but  for  the  conquerors'  good.  The 
masses  of  the  people  were  governed  by  Ro- 
man governors  for  the  benefit,  not  of  themselves,  but  of 
a  small  number  of  Roman  citizens.  This  vice — this  blot 
— in  the  Roman  polity  was  no  doubt  the  cause  of  its  de- 
cay. 


Its  main  vice. 


cii.   1.  Iiii)vditctory.  7 

(2)  The  aim  of  modern  civilization  is   obviously  far 
higher  than  this.     It  has  not  yet  reached  its 
goal,  but  we  see  clearly  that  it  has  been    civilization, 
aiming,  not   at  one  vast  universal  empire, 
but  at  the  formation  of  several  compact  and  separate 
nations,  living   peaceably  side  by  side,  respecting  one 
another's  rights  and  freedom  ;  and,  looking  within  each 
nation,  at  making  all  classes  of  the  people,  town  and 
country,  rich  and  poor,  alike  citizens  for  whose  common 
weal  the  nation  is  to  be  governed,  and  who    , 

°  Its  strength. 

ultimately  shall  govern  themselves.     In  this 

aim  of  modern  civilization  to  secure  the  covnnon  weal  of 

the  people  lies  its  power  and  strength. 

Now  the  passage  from  the  old  decaying  form  of  civili- 
zation to  the  new,  better,  and  stronger  one,  involved  a 
change ;  and  this  change  must  needs  take    „ 

1  11  111  rr^i  1  1  1  The  crisis  of 

place  slowly  and  by  degrees.  The  old  order    the  struggle 
of  things  had  gradually  for  long  been  going   ofd^nTthe^ 
out ;  the  new  order  of  things  had  gradually    "^^^  order  of 
for  long  been  coming  in.     But  in  this  era 
was  to  be  the  crisis  of  the  change — the  final  decisive 
struggle  between  the  two   forces ;    and   in   this   lies  its 
importance  and  its  interest. 

Before  we  begin  the  story  of  this  struggle,  we  must 
briefly  consider  what  it  was  in  the  state  of 

„,     .  ,  1  •    1     1  1       •  11-        P'^"  of  this 

Christendom  which  brought  it  on  ;  and  this   book. 
will  be  done  best  by  our  examining — 

(i)  The  powers  which  belonged  to  the  old  order  of 
things,  and  now  dying  out. 

(2)  The  state  of  the  modern  nations  which  were 
growing  up  in  their  place. 

In  doing  so,  we  shall  try  to  lay  most  stress  on  the 
condition  of  the  masses  of  the  people  ;  and  we  shall  not 
fail  to  see  clearly  some  of  the  main  points  in  which,  if 


8  State  of  ChristcnJoni.  px.  i. 

modern  civilization  was  to  go  on,  there  was  a  necessity  for 
reform,  and  the  danger  there  was  that,  if  the  needful  re- 
forms were  much  longer  withheld,  there  would  be  revo- 
lution. 

Then  in  Part  II.  will  come  the  story  of  the  struggle; 
and  in  Part  III.  its  results  on  the  different  nations.  We 
shall  end  with  trying  to  take  stock  of  the  amount  of  pro- 
gress gained  during  the  era,  and  to  look  forward  at  the 
prospects  of  the  future  that  arise  out  of  it. 


CHAPTER  II. 


THE    POWERS    BELONGING   TO   THE   OLD   ORDER   OF 
THINGS,   AND   GOING   OUT. 

[a)    The  Ecclesiastical  System. 

Western  Christendom  was  united  under  one  Eccle- 
siastical system — the  Roman,  or,  as  it  called  itself,  the 
'  Holy  Catholic'  Church. 

It  was,  in  fact,  a  great  Ecclesiastical  Empire,  of  which 
Rome  was  the  capital,  and  the  Pope  of  Rome  the  head. 
^,    ^    ,  In  the  last  generation   there   had  been   a 

The  Eccle-  °  ,  .,        , 

siasticai  Em-  scliism — I.  <?.  for  a  while  there  were  two  rival 
'Rome'the  Popes   excommunicating    each    other — but 

capital.  after  much  trouble  and  scandal  the  schism 

had  been  ended,  and  now  all  was  one  again. 

Europe  was  mapped  out  into  ecclesiastical  provinces, 
at  the  head  of  each  of  which  was  an  archbishop.  Each 
province  was  divided  into  dioceses,  with  bishops  at  their 
head,  and  each  diocese  into  parishes,  each  with  its  parish 
priest.  Thus  there  was  an  ecclesiastical  network  all  over 
Europe,  all  the  threads  of  which  were  drawn  towards 


CH.  II.  The  Ecclesiastical  Systctn.  g 

Rome,  and  held  in  the  hands  of  the  Pope  and  his  cardi- 
nals. 

This  ecclesiastical  empire  kept  itself  as  free  as  possi- 
ble from  the  civil  power  in  each  nation.  It  considered 
itself  above  kin^s  and  princes.    It  was  morS    ^  ^ 

°  ^  .  Independent 

ancient  than  any  of  their  thrones  and  king-  of  the  civil 
doms.  Kings  were  not  secure  on  their  thrones  ^  ^' 
till  they  had  the  sanction  of  the  Church.  On  the  other 
hand  the  clergy  claimed  to  be  free  from  prosecution 
under  the  criminal  laws  of  the  lands  they  lived  in.  They 
struggled  to  keep  their  own  ecclesiastical  laws  and  their 
own  ecclesiastical  courts,  receiving  authority  direct  from 
Rome,  and  with  final  appeal,  not  to  the  Crown,  but  to 
the  Pope. 

In  addition  to  the  parochial  clergy,  there  were  orders 
of  monks.  The  two  chief  of  them  were  the  rival  orders 
of  the  Dominican  and  Augustinian  monks:    „, 

°  Ihe   monks. 

and  in  most  towns  there  were  one,  two,  or 
half-a-dozen   monasteries   and  cloisters.      So  numerous 
were  the  monks  that  they  swarmed  everywhere,  and  had 
become,  by  the  favour  of  the  Popes,  more  important  and 
powerful  in  many  ways  than  the  parochial  clergy. 

It  is  essential  to  mark  what  a  power  this  ecclesiastical 
empire  wielded    over    the     nations.      The    „ 

^  _  .  Fowerofthe 

ecclesiastics  held  in  their  hands  the  keys,    ecclesiastical 
as  it  were,  not  only  of  heaven  but  of  earth.      ^^^  *"'"' 

They  alone  baptized ;  they  alone  married  people 
(though  unmarried  themselves)  ;  they  alone  could  grant 
a  divorce.     Thev  had  the  charge  of  men  on   ,    .  „ 

■'  "  by  influence 

their   death-beds ;  they   alone   buried,   and   over  the 
could  refuse  Christian  burial  in  the  church- 
yards.    They  alone  had  the  disposition  of  the  goods  of 
deceased  persons.     When  a  man  made  a  will,  it  had  to 
be  proved  in  their  ecclesiastical  courts.     If  men  disputed 


lo  State  of  Oiristendom.  PT.  i. 

their  claims,  doubted  their  teaching,  or  rebelled  from 
their  doctrines,  they  virtually  condemned  them  to  the 
stake,  by  handing  them  over  to  the  civil  power,  which 
acted  in  submission  to  their  dictates.  You  will  see  at 
once  how  gr^at  a  power  all  these  things  must  have  given 
them  over  the  minds,  the  fears,  the  happiness,  and  the 
lives  of  the  people. 

The  ordinary  revenues  of  the  clergy  were  large.  They 
,     .  ,  ,       had  a  right  to  '  tithes  ; '  i.  e.  to  a  tenth  part 

by  Its  wealth  ;  ^ 

of  the  produce  of  the  whole  land  of  Chris- 
tendom. This  had  belonged  to  them  for  hundreds  of 
years.  In  addition  to  this  they  claimed  fees  for  every- 
thing they  did. 

The  monks,  according  to  the  rules  of  their  founders, 
ought  to  have  got  their  living  by  begging  alms  in  return 
for  their  preachings  and  their  prayers  for  the  living  and 
the  dead.  But  their  vow  of  poverty  had  not  kept  them 
poor.  People  thought  that  by  giving  property  to  them 
they  could  save  their  souls ;  so  rich  men,  sometimes  in 
their  lifetime  but  oftener  on  their  deathbeds,  left  them 
large  sums  of  money  and  estates  in  land.  In  spite  of 
laws  passed  by  the  civil  powers  to  prevent  it,  it  was  said 
that  they  had  got  about  a  third  of  the  land  of  Europe 
into  their  possession.  Thus  the  revenue  and  riches  of  the 
Church  was  far  larger  than  that  of  the  kings  and  princes 
of  Europe. 

These  were  not  the  sole  secrets  of  their  power.  From 
the  fact  that  the  clergy  were  almost  the  only  educated 

people  in  Europe,  they-  became  the  lawvers 

by  the  mono-        ^        '  '-  '  i  j  • 

poly  of  learn-  and  diplomatists,  envoys,  ambassadors,  mm- 
'"^'  isters,  chancellors,  and  even  prime  minis- 

ters of  princes.  They  were  mixed  up  with  the  politics 
of  Europe,  and  the  reins  of  the  State  in  most  countries 
were  in  the  hands  of  ecclesiastics.     They  received  pro- 


CH.    II. 


1  he  Ecclesiastical  System. 


motion  to  bishoprics  most  often  in  return  for       ,     ,. .    , 

and  political 

such  political  services.  influence. 

We  cannot  fail  to  see  how  vast  the  political  power  of 
such  an  ecclesiastical  empire  as  this  must  have  been. 
The  Pope,  through  his  army  of  ecclesiastics  all  over 
Christendoin,  had  the  strings  in  his  hand  by  which  to 
influence  the  politics  of  Europe.     And  one 

.  which  all  cen- 

of  the  great  complamts  of  the  best  men  of  tred  in  Rome, 
the  day  was  that  this  political  influence  was 
used  by  Rome  for  her  own  ends  instead  of  the  good  of 
Europe,  and  that  the  immense  ecclesiastical  revenues 
•tended  to  flow  out  of  the  provinces  into  the  coffers  of  the 
Popes  and  cardinals  of  Rome. 

All  this  of  course  tended 
to     hinder     the    ^, .    ^     . 

.  I  his  Kmpire 

growth  and  m-   will  be 

1  1  c     troken  up. 

dependence    of 
the  separate  nations,  and  to 
prevent    all    classes    within 
them  from  becoming  united 
into  a  compact  nation. 

It  will  be  one  great  work 
of  the  era,  to  break  up  this 
ecclesiastical  empire — to  free 
several  nations  (those  mark- 
ed white  on  the  map)  from  its  yoke.  So  that  Rome  will 
cease  to  be  the  capital  of  Christendom. 

{b)    The  Scholastic  Systetn. 

There  was  another  power  in  Europe  which  was 
Roman  and  not  national ;  which  tended  to  keep  classes 
of  people  apart,  and  so  stood  in  the  way  of  the  growth  of 
national  life  in  the  separate  nations. 

The  learned  world  was  a  world  of  its  own,  severed 


State  of  Chn'stcndofn. 


PT.   I. 


from  the  masses  of  the  people  by  its  scholastic  system. 
The  learned  ^^^  the  learned  men  in  Europe  talked  and 
world  talked      wrotc  letters  and  books  in  Latin — the  lan- 

and  wrote 

Latin,  guagc   of  Rome.     Some  of  them   did  not 

even  know  the  common  language  of  the  countries  they 
lived  in.  And  as  Latin  was  the  language  of  learning, 
so  Rome  was  the  capital  of  the  learned  world.  Thus 
the  learned  world  was  closely  connected  with  the  eccle- 
siastical system.  Learned  people  were  looked  upon 
as  belonging  to  the  clergy ;  and  the  Pope  had  long 
and  belonged  claimed  them  as  subjects  of  his  ecclesiasti- 
10  the  clergy,  c^l  empire.  So  for  centuries  in  England  a 
man  convicted  of  a  crime,  by  pleading  that  he  could 
read  and  write,  could  claim  benefit  of  clergy,  i.  e.  to  be 
tried  in  an  ecclesiastical  court,  and  this  by  long  abuse 
came  to  mean  exemption  from  the  punishments  of  the 
criminal  law  of  the  land. 

This  tended  to  give  to  knowledge  and  learning  itself  a 

clerical  or   scholastic    character.     Knowledge  was  tied 

down  by  scholastic  rules  which  had  grown  up 

This  made  ...  ,  ...  ,  , 

learning  m  tuTies  whcn  the  ecclesiastics  were  the  only 

sc  oastic,  educated  people.  The  old  learned  men — 
•  the  schoolmen '  as  they  were  called — looked  at  every- 
thing with  ecclesiastical  eyes.  All  knowledge  had  thus 
got  to  be  looked  upon  almost  as  a  part  of  theology. 
Matters  of  science — e.  g.  whether  the  earth  moved  round 
shackled  ^^  ^"^  °'*  ^^  ^"^  round  the  earth — ^were 

science,  settled  bv  texts  from  the  Bible,  instead  of  by 

examining  into  the  facts.  So  there  was  no  freedom  of 
inquiry  even  in  scientific  matters.  A  man  who  made 
discoveries  in  science  might  be  stopped  and  punished 
if  he  found  out  that  the  old  schoolmen  were  wrong  in 
anything. 

Under  the   scholastic   system   the  Christian  religion. 


CH.    II. 


The  Scholastic  System. 


13 


which  in  the  days  of  Christ  and  the  apostles  was  a  thing  of 
the  heart  (love  of  God  and  one's  neighbour),    ^^d  religion 
had  grown  into  a  theology — a  thing  of  the   ^'^°' 
head.   The  chief  handybook  of  the  theology  of  the  school- 
men was  a  great  folio  volume  of  more  than  1,000  pages. 

Thus    the    scholastic    system   necessarily    kept   both 
science  and  religion  the  property  of  a  clerical  class,  and 
out   of   the  hands   of   the    common    people,  to    whom 
Latin  was  a  dead  language ;    while  at  the    ^„j  ^^p^ 
same  time  it  kept  the  learning  even  of  the    ';^'="i  from 

'■  _  tne  common 

learned  world  shackled  by  scholastic  rules,    people. 

It  is  important  to  see  this  clearly,  because  one  great 
part  of  the  work  of  the  new  era  was  to  throw  the  gates 
of  knowledge  open  to  all  men,  and  to  set    ^^ 

"  '  ,  .  JNecessityoi 

the  minds  of  men  free  from  this  clerical  or   mental  free- 
scholastic    thraldom — to    set   both    science      °'"' 
and  religion  free,  for  freedom  was  as  important  to  the 
one  as  it  was  to  the  other.     Without  it  there  could  be  no 
real  progress  in  civilization. 


14  State  of  Christendom,  pt.  I. 

^,     ,  The  universities  were  the  great  centres  of 

The  Universi- 

ties.  the  learned  world. 

There  were  thirty  or  forty  of  them  scattered  over 
Europe,  and  they  were  in  more  or  less  close  connexion 
with  each  other.  They  are  marked  on  the  map,  and  the 
chief  of  them  should  be  carefully  remembered.  The 
oldest  and  most  celebrated  were  Oxford  and  Cambridgs 
in  England,  Paris  and  Orleans  in  France,  Bologna  and 
Padua  in  Italy,  and  Salamanca  in  Spain,  Prague  in 
Bohemia,  and  Cologne  in  Germany.  These,  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  era  of  the  Reformation,  were  all  more  than  a 
hundred,  and  some  two  hundred  years  old.  The  young- 
est university  in  Europe  was  that  of  Wittenberg,  founded 
in  1502  by  the  Elector  of  Saxony. 

Students  were  in  the  habit  of  passing  from  one  uni- 
versity to  another.  Oxford  students  would  pass  on  to 
^    ,  Paris,  and  from  Paris  to  Bologna,  to  take 

Students  pass  . 

from  one  to        their  degrees.      And  wherever  there  hap- 
pened to  be  a  famous  professor,  thither  stu- 
dents from  all  other  universities  flocked. 

Now  the  result  of  this  was  very  important. 

As  one  example,  we  may  take  the  great  movement  in 
the  fourteenth  century  iii  the  direction  of  reform. 

Wiclif  wrote  books  in  Latin  at  Oxford.  They  were 
copied  and  read  all  over  Europe.  Oxford  students  went 
to  the  newly-opened  university  at  Prague. 
this  in  the  days  Wiclif 's  Writings  made  as  much  noise,  and 
were  as  well  known  in  Bohemia  as  they  were . 
in  England.  Huss  and  Jerome  of  Prague  became  the 
Bohemian  successors  of  the  English  Wiclif,  and  thus 
the  movement  in  favour  of  reform  was  transplanted  from 
one  country  to  another.  "What  was  discussed  among 
the  learned  soon  trickled  down  into  the  common  talk  of 
the  people.      So  there  arose  out  of  Wiclif 's  movement 


CH.  II.  The  Scholastic  System.  15 

the  Lollard  insurrection  in  England  and  the  Hussite 
wars  in  Bohemia. 

What  had  thus  happened  before  in  the  days  when 
books  were  multiplied  only  by  the  slow  work  of  the  pen 
was  still  more  likely  to  happen  again  in  the  days  of  the 
printing  press. 

We  shall  see  how  in  the  new  era  these  things  were  re- 
peated— how  the  spirit  of  revival  of  learning  and  religious 
reform  spread,  first  among  the  learned  from    ,„  ,  , 

.  .  Will  be  re- 

university  to  university  by  students  passing   peated  in  the 
from  one  to  another,  now  in  Italy,  now  into    "^^  "'^' 
England,  now  into  Germany,  and  how  at  last  it  trickled 
down  into  the  minds  of  the  common  people  all  over  Eu- 
rope. 

The  fact  that  both  the  ecclesiastical  system  and  the 
learned  world  were  coextensive  with  Christendom,  and 
so  closely  united  together,  gave  to  Christendom  a  unity 
which  alone  made  the  work  of  the  era  possible.  It  was 
as  though,  in  spite  of  distance  and  the  diffi-    ^,         ,    , 

1  •  r  ,,•  1  ,  The  work  of 

culties  of  travelling,  learned  men  were  the  era. 
nearer  together  than  even  now,  in  these 
days  of  railroads  and  steamboats  and  telegraphs.  The 
work  of  the  era  was  to  rend  Christendom  asunder. 
Rome  was  no  longer  to  be  her  capital.  The  Pope  was 
no  longer  to  be  recognized  everywhere  as  her  spiritual 
head.  The  Latin  language  was  no  longer  to  be  the 
common  tongue  of  literature  and  books  all  over  Europe. 
Young  nations  were  to  divide  Europe  between  them,  to 
have  their  own  churches  and  clergy,  their  own  lan- 
guages, their  own  literature,  their  own  learned  men  and 
universities,  and  so  to  become  more  independent  of  each 
other  and  of  Rome.  And  this  was  one  of  the  stages 
through  which  Christian  civilization  was  to  pass  in  its 
onward  course. 


1 6  State  of  Christendom.  pt.  i. 

[c)   The  Feudal  System  and  the  forxes  which  were 
breaking  it  up. 

There  was  another  system  which  was  opposed  to  the 
„,  growth  of  modern  nations — the  feudal  sys- 

system.  tem.     It  belonged  to  the  old  order  of  things, 

and  was  fast  decaying  and  going  out. 
Divided  coun-        The  feudal  system  hindered  the  growth  of 
"eu  "lord  ^^^^  nations,  not  by  tending  too  much  to  keep 

ships.  up  the  unity  of  Christendom,  but  by  dividing 

countries  up  into  innumerable  petty  lordships. 

Each  feudal  lord  was  a  little  sovereign  both  as  regards 
those  below  him — his  vassals  and  serfs — and  also  as  re- 
gards his  fellows,  except  so  far  as  he  and  they  were  con- 
trolled by  higher  feudal  powers  above  them.  He  waged 
what  petty  wars  he  chose  with  his  neighbours,  and  lorded 
it  over  his  vassals  and  serfs,  whilst  himself  very  jealous- 
ly resisting  any  unusual  interference  from  powers  above 
him. 
.^         ^  ,  The   feudal   system   had   already  shown 

Decay  of  the  .  .  ^  .  ^ 

feudal  system,  signs  of  falling  to  pieccs,  and  in  some  coun- 
tries had  very  much  died  out. 

In  some  countries  the  petty  lordships  had  fallen  quite 
under  the  power  of  the  Crown. 

By  a  long  process,  some  of  the  feudal  lords  had  grown 
^  , .  ^     in  power,  while  the  multitude  of  smaller  ones 

Subjection  o'       ,       .  ,    .  .  .         .       .       .- 

feudal  lords  to  had  sunk  mto  ever-mcreasmg  insignificance. 
Especially  in  countries  where  by  the  rule 
of  inheritance  lordships  descended  only  to  the  eldest 
male  heir,  there  was  a  natural  tendency  for  lordships  to 
unite  by  marriage  and  inheritance.  The  greater  families 
intermarried  and  grew  richer,  and  the  royal  family  was 
in  fact  the  one  which  had  grown  so  much  bigger  than 
the  rest  that  it  kept  swallowing  up  more  and  more  into 


CH.  II.  The  Feudal  System.  •  i-j 

itself^  We  shall  sec  that  it  was  so  notably  in  France. 
TTie  process  went  on  more  slowly  in  Germany,  where  the 
rule  of  inheritance  was  division  among  the  male  heirs, 
and  so  the  tendency  was  towards  more  and  more  divi- 
sion, and  an  ever-increasing  host  of  petty  lordships.  In 
Germany  the  feudal  system  was  still  in  full  force,  and  we 
shall  see  by-and-by  how  it  prevented  her  from  growing 
into  a  compact  nation,  and  hov/ much  she  had  to  suffer  for 
want  of  the  nobles  being  subjected  to  a  central  authori- 
ty able  to  preserve  the  public  peace  and  to    , 

•^  _    ^  ^  "^  Increasing 

curb  their   lawlessness   and  tyranny.     But   power  of  the 
speaking  generally,  things  were  more  and 
more  working  in  the  new  era  towards  the  complete  sub- 
jection of  the  feudal  nobility  in  each  nation  to  the  cen- 
tral power,  z.  e.  towards  the  supremacy  of  the  Crown. 

But  convnercc  was  breaking  up  the  feudal  system  faster 
than  anything  else,  and  commerce  had  its  chief  seat  in 
the  towns.  Trade,  commerce,  and  manufactures  were 
the  life  of  the  towns.  The  little  towns  were  the  markets 
of  the  country  round,  and  their  trade  lay  be-  -pj^^  growth 
tween  the  peasantry  and  the  bigger  towns.  °^  commerce. 
These,  in  their  turn,  lived  upon  the  share  they  had  in 
that  wider  commerce  of  the  world,  of  which,  by  the  aid 
of  Map  No.  2  (at  the  beginning  of  this  volume),  we  must 
now  try  to  grasp  the  main  features. 

The  Crusades  had  done  much  to  open  up  a  commerce 
between  Asia  and  Europe.     This  commerce 

.  ,      ,       „  ,     .        ,       ,  ,         -  Trade  of  the 

With  the  East  was  mostly  m  the  hands  of  the  Mediterra- 
great  cities  on  the  Mediterranean  Sea.  The 
new  way  to  the  Indies  was  not  yet  open.  The  products 
of  the  East,  its  spices  and  its  silks,  were  carried  overland 
from  the  Persian  Gulf  and  Red  Sea  to  the  Levant,  and 
then  shipped  to  the  ports  of  Italy.  Silk  manufactures 
were  also  carried  on  in  Italv.  in  Catalonia  in  Spain,  and 
C 


1 8  State  of  Christendom.  pt.  i. 

at  Lyons  in  France.  These  eastern  products  and  silks 
were  the  chief  exports  of  the  Mediterranean  merchants. 

The  commerce  of  the  North  Sea  was  equally  important. 

The  woollen  manufactures  of  the  north  were  its  chief 
feature.  Spain  exported  wool  and  some  parts  of  Germany, 
but  England  was  the  great  wool-growing  country.  The 
wool  was  woven  into  cloth  in  the  looms  of  the  eastern 
_,  counties  of  England,  and  Flanders  on  the 

Ine  manu-  ° 

facturing  Opposite   shore    of  the    North  Sea,     These 

districts.  ,  i  •    /•  r  •  i-        • 

were  the  chief  manufacturmg  districts, 
though  other  towns  in  England,  up  the  Rhine,  and  in 
Germany,  had  their  weavers  also.  There  were  also  con- 
siderable linen  manufactures  in  the  north  of  France, 

The  North  Sea  was  the  great  fishing  ground,  and 
.^,  dried  fish  was  a  great  article  of  commerce 

The  ° 

fisheries.  when  during  Lent  and  on  every  Friday  all 

Christendom  lived  upon  fish. 

There  was  also  a  trade  in  furs  and  skins  with  North 
Russia,  Norway,  and  Sweden. 

This  commerce  of  the  North  was  carried  on  by  the 

Hanse  towns — reaching  from  the  shores  of  the  Baltic 

westward  to  the  Netherlands,  and  inland  in 

The  com-  i  ^    i  rr-i 

merce  of  the      Germany  as  far  south  as  Cologne.     There 
were  eighty  towns  belonging  to  this  league, 
and  they  had  stations  or  factories  at  Novgorod,  Bergen, 
London,  and  Bruges. 

Bruges  in  Flanders  had  been,  and  now  Antwerp  was 
the  great  central  mart  of  the  commerce  of  the  world. 
Bruges  and  Here  the  merchants  of  the  North  exchanged 
Antwerp  the      their    goods    with    the    merchants    of    the 

central  marts  ... 

of  commerce.  Mediterranean.  Here  their  ships  met  and 
divided  the  maritime  commerce  of  the  world  be- 
tween them.  Here,  too,  the  maritime  met  the  inland 
and    overland    trade— inland    trade  with    the    German 


CH.  11.  The  Feudal  System.  19 


Lines  of 


towns,  overland  trade  down  the  Rhine, 
through  Germany,  over  the  Alps,  by  the  niaridme, 
Brenner  and  Juher  passes  into  Italy.  There  overland 
was  much  trade  between  German  and  ''^^'^'=- 
Venetian  merchants,  and  the  contemporary  historian, 
Machiavelli,  states  that  all  Italy  was  in  a  manner  supplied 
with  the  commodities  and  manufactures  of  Germany. 
Since  the  Netherlands  and  Austria  fell  into  the  hands  of 
the  House  of  Hapsburg,  and  Maximilian  was  Emperor 
of  Germany,  there  had  also  naturally  sprung  up  a  trade 
between  the  Rhine  and  the  Danube. 

These  were  the  great  lines  of  trade,  and  in  these  lines 
lay  the  chief  commercial  towns,  living  on  their  share  in 
the  commerce  of  the  world. 

Under  the  feudal  system  the  towns  had  once  been 
mostly  subject  to  feudal  lords,  but  they  had    ^, 

,      .     .      ,  .    .  T  The  towns 

early  shown  their  mdependent  spirit,  and  re-   had  mostly 
belled,  or  bargained  for  charters  of  freedom. 
A  free  town  was  a  little  republic,  organized  for  protection 
from  foes  without  and  for  peaceful  trade  within.     The 
members  of  each  trade  were  banded  together  into  guilds* 
for  mutual  protection,  and  there  was  generally  a  sort  of 
representative  government — an  upper  and  lower  council 
of  citizens,  by  whom  the  town  was  governed. 

We  can  easily  understand  how  likely  the  towns  were 
to  hate  the  feudal  lords,  whose  petty  wars  dis- 

Why  the 

turbed  the  public  peace  and  made  commerce    towns  hated 
hazardous.     They  had  to  fortify  themselves   '"■="'^^''''" 
against  these  petty  wars,  and  their  cavalcades  of  mer- 
chandize had  to  be  protected  by  soldiers  on  the  roads. 
So  there  had  grown  up  out  of  commerce  an  anti-feudal 
power  in  Europe.  In  almost  every  country  the 

'  .  and  favored 

towns  banded  themselves  together  against    the  Crown. 
the  feudal  system,  and  when  the  power  of  the 


20  State  of  Christendom.  pt.  i. 

Crown  began  to  rise,  the  towns  were  the  stepping-stones 
by  which  it  rose  to  the  top.  Kings  invited  the  towns  to 
send  burgesses  to  the  national  Diets  or  Parhaments, 
and  they  were  a  growing  power  in  ahiiost  every  State. 

There  was  yet  another  most  numerous  and  most  im- 
portant   class    affected    by    feudalism — the    peasantry. 
^    ,  .         The   peasants,    under  the    feudal    system, 
peasantry.         were  more  or  less  reduced  to  a  condition  of 
vassalage  or  serfdom. 

Let  us  understand   what  this  was.     The  tribes  who 
conquered  Northern  and  Western  Europe  were  a  land- 
folk — people  living  by  the  land.     They  set- 
Once  more  free     ,    ,  .  ^  .,f  ,     1,    ,     1      ,  ,    ,        . 
than  under  the   tied  m  Villages,  and  all  the  land  belongmg 

sys  em.  ^^  gg-ch  village  belonged  to  the  community, 
as  it  does  now  in  Swiss  valleys.  The  people  were 
tenants  only  of  their  little  allotments,  with  common 
rights  over  the  unallotted  pasture,  woods,  forests,  and 
rivers:  i.  e.  they  had  a  common  or  joint  use  of  them. 

Now  the  feudal  system  had  put  the  feudal  lords  in  the 
place  of  the  community.  The  peasantry  became  tenants 
of  these  lords,  paying  rents  sometimes  in  money,  but 
chiefly  in  services  of  labour  on  their  lords'  lands.  The 
lords,  moreover,  claimed  more  and  more  of  the  unal- 
lotted portion  of  the  common  lands  as  their  own.  The 
serfs  were  not  allowed  to  leave  their  land,  because  it 
would  rob  the  lords  of  their  services.  So  the  lords  held 
their  peasantry  completely  in  their  power.  This  was 
feudal  serfdom  when  in  full  force.  In  some  countries  it 
was  still  in  force,  in  others  it  had  almost  disappeared. 

In  those  countries  where  the  lords  were  most  subjected 
Where  the  ^o  the  Crown,  as  in  France  and  England,  the 
central  power     gerfs  Were  likely  to  be  best  off  and  farthest 

was  weakest,  "^ 

feudal  serfdom  advanced  on  the  road  to  freedom.  In  those 
jngerc     on„-     .^  y.hich  the  feudal  lords  were  least  sub- 


CH.  II.  The  Feudal  System.  21 

dued,  and  the  central  power  least  formed,  as  in  Ger- 
many, we  should  expect  to  find  feudal  serfdom  linger- 
ing on.     And  it  was  so. 

As  the  towns  were  the  enemies  of  the  feudal  nobility, 
so  they  were  the  friends  of  the  feudal  peasantry.     Com- 
•merce  introduced  everywhere  money  pay- 
ments  instead  of  barter.    Payment  of  rent  in    and  commerce 

,,,  iiri-  ji-i     favoured  free- 

services  of  labour  was  an  old-iashioned  kind  dom  of  the 
of  barter.  Commerce,  therefore,  helped  to  pi^asantry. 
introduce  money  rents  and  money  wages,  and  where 
these  were  early  introduced,  as  in  France  and  England, 
the  condition  of  the  peasant  was  much  improved.  But 
more  than  this  ;  labour  was  often  wanted  in  the  towns  : 
the  wages  paid  in  the  towns  often  tempted  the  peasant  to 
desert  his  land  and  feudal  lord,  and  to  flee  to  a  town.  The 
towns  favoured  this  immigration  into  them  of  runaway 
serfs,  and  there  grew  up  in  some  countries  a  settled  rule 
of  law  that  after  residence  in  a  town  a  year  and  a  day 
they  could  not  be  reclaimed. 

Thus  we  see  clearly  how  the  feudal  system  was  break- 
ing up  under  the  influence  of  commerce  and  the  com- 
bined power  of  the  towns  and  the  Crown. 

The  petty  lordships  were  becoming  united  into  the 
larger  unit  of  the  nation,  but  we  see  on  the  other  hand 
what  a  danger  there  was  of  the  nation  becoming  divided 
into  hostile  classes.  How  were  classes  so  contrarient  as 
the  feudal  lords,  the  townspeople,  and  the  peasantry,  to 
be  blended  in  one  national  life  ?  This  was  the  great 
problem  modern  civilization  had  to  solve,  and  some  na- 
tions succeeded  much  better  than  others  in  solving  it. 


State  of  Christe7idom.  pt.  I. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE   MODERN   NATIONS   WHICH   WERE   RISING 
INTO   POWER. 

(a)  Italy. 
No  country  had  made  less  progress  towards  becoming, 
.    ,      a  compact  and  united  nation  than  Italy,  the 

Not  a  united  .  .  ' 

nation.  Very  country  m  which  Rome,  the  capital  of 

Christendom,  exercised  most  influence. 

The  contemporary  historian,  MacJiiavelli,  shows  how 
,     Rome  was  the  cause  of  Italy's  ruin  and  dis- 

Kome,  accord- 
ing to  Ma-  unity. 

cause  ofher  He  says  :  '  Some  are  of  opinion  that  the 

disunity.  welfare  of  Italy  depends  upon  the  Church 

of  Rome.     I  shall  set  down  two  unanswerable  reasons  to 

the  contrary  : — 

'(i)  By  the  corrupt  example  of  that  court  Italy  has 
lost  its  religion  and  become  heathenish  and  irreligious. 

'  (2)  We  owe  to  Rome  also  that  we  are  become  di- 
vided and  factious,  which  must  of  necessity  be  our  ruin, 
for  no  nation  was  ever  happy  or  united  unless  under  the 
rule  of  one  commonwealth  or  prince,  as  France  and 
Spain  are  at  this  time.  And  the  reason  is  that  the  Pope, 
though  he  claims  temporal  as  well  as  spiritual  jurisdic- 
tion, is  not  strong  enough  to  rule  all  Italy  himself,  and 
whenever  he  sees  any  danger  he  calls  in  some  foreign 
potentate  to  help  him  against  any  other  power  growing 
strong  enough  to  be  formidable.  Therefore  it  is  that,  in- 
stead of  getting  united  under  one  rule,  Italy  is  split  up 
into  several  principalities,  and  so  disunited  that  it  falls 
easily  a  prey  to  the  power  not  only  of  the  barbarians, 
but  of  any  one  who  cares  to  invade  it.  This  misfortune 
we  Italians  owe  only  to  the  Church  of  Rome.' 


CM.  III.  Italy.  23 

That  these  words  of  Machiavelli  were  too  strictly  true, 
we  shall  judge  from  the  facts. 

We  have  seen  what  was  the  power  of  Rome.  If  ex- 
erted in  favour  of  Christian  civilization  how  many  bless- 
ings  might  not  the   Church  have   earned  !    „ 

.  .  .  Rome  a  centre 

But  it  was  notorious  to  every  one  living  at   of  rottenness. 
the  time  that  Rome  used  her  power  so  ill, 
and  that  her  own  character  and  that  of  her  Popes  were 
so  evil,  that  she  had  become  both  politically  and  spirit- 
ually the  centre  of  wickedness  and  rottenness  in  Europe 
and  especially  in  Italy. 

And  this  was  no  new  thing.  Men  had  been  complain- 
ing of  it  for  generations.  The  greatest  poets  of  Italy 
had  long  before  immortalized  the  guilt   of 

T^  „  .         .      ^  ,       ,     Dante  on  the 

Rome.      Two  centuries  before,  Dante  had    Popes, 
described  the  Popes  of  his  day  as  men 

whose  avarice 
O'ercasts  the  world  with  mourning,  under  foot 
Treading  the  good,  and  raising  bad  men  up. 
Of  Shepherds  like  to  you,  the  Evangelist 
Was  ware,  when  her  who  sits  upon  the  waves 
With  kings  in  filthy  whoredom  he  beheld  ! 

And  soon   after   Dante,  Petrarch   had   de-    .„ 

Petrarch  on 

scribed  Rome  thus  : —  Rome. 

Once  Rome !  now  false  and  guilty  Babylon ! 

Hive  of  deceits !     Terrible  prison, 

Where  the  good  doth  die,  the  bad  is  fed  and  fattened ! 

Hell  of  the  living!     .... 

Sad  world  that  dost  endure  it !     Cast  her  out ! 

And  in  the  days  of  these  great  poets  men.  Reformers 
and  Councils  too,  had  tried  to  reform  Rome,  but  without 
avail.  A  few  more  generations  had  passed  and  Rome 
was  now  not  only  unreformed  but  in  respect  to  morals 
worse  than  ever.     How  much  worse  we  know  not  only 


24  State  of  Christendom.  pt.  i. 

from  the  censures  of  her  poets,  but  from  the  facts  of  her 
contemporary  historians. 

The  Popes  of  Rome  had  for  long  not  only  wielded 
both  political  and  spiritual  power,  but  used 

Recent  ,  ^  .    ,      ,      .    ^  ^     ^ ...  , 

Popes  bad  them  to  enrich  their  own  families  ;  and  as  a 
'"^"'  rule  they  had  recently  been  notoriously  bad 

men. 

Alexander  VI.  was  the  reigning  Pope,  and  the  worst 

Rome  ever  had.     His  wicked  reign  lasted  from  1492  to 

I  i^c?.     His  great  aim  was  to  bring  Rome, 

Alexander  J    J  b  a  > 

VI.  and  Cffisar   and  if  he  could,  all  Italy,  into  the  hands  of 
orgia.  j^.^  ^^.^^  wickeder  son  Caesar  Borgia.     The 

latter  caused  his  own  brother  to  be  stabbed  and  thrown 
into  the  Tiber.  He  had  his  brother-in-law  assassinated 
on  his  palace-steps.  He  stabbed  one  of  his  father's 
favourites  who  had  taken  shelter  under  the  pontifical 
robes,  so  that  the  blood  spirted  into  the  Pope's  face. 
„^  .      .  Rich  men  were  poisoned  to  get  their  wealth. 

1  heir  crimes. 

The  reign  of  these  Borgias  was  a  reign  of 
terror  in  Rome.  At  last,  in  1503,  the  Pope  fell,  it  is 
said,  into  his  own  trap,  and  died  of  the  poison  he  had 
prepared  for  another. 

Another  great  Italian  historian  of  the  time,  Cui'c- 
ciardini,  records  that  the  body  of  the  Pope,  black  and 
loathsome,  was  exposed  to  public  view  in  St.  Peter's. 
And  he  goes  on  to  say : — 

"All  Rome  flocked  to  that  sight,  and  could  not  suf- 
ficiently satiate  their  eyes  with  gazing  on  the  remains  of 
the  extinct  serpent,  who  by  his  immoderate  ambition, 
pestiferous  perfidy,  monstrous  lust,  and  every  sort  of 
horrible  cruelty  and  unexampled  avarice — selling  with- 
out distinction  property  sacred  and  profane — had  com- 
passed the  destruction  of  so  many  by  poison,  and  was 
now  become  its  victim  ! ' 


CH.   III. 


Italy. 


25 


wickedness. 


Machiavelli  was  right  then,  that  the  example  of  Rome 
in  Italy  was  an  evil  one.  That  it  made  the  Italians  hate 
the  Church,  and  drove  thinking  men,  while   ^ 

.  .  .  °  Effects  of  the 

they  remamed  superstitious,  to  doubt  Chris-  Pope's 
tianity,  and  to  welcome  even  Pagan  reli- 
gions, because  they  seemed  so  much  purer  than  that 
which  Rome  offered  them,  we  shall  see  by-and-by.  This 
is  what  he  meant  when  he  spoke  of  the  Italians  becom- 
ing 'heathenish' — it  was  exactly  the  fact. 

And  now  as  to  this  other  statement,  that  Rome  was 

the  cause  of  the  divisions, 


and  therefore  of  the  ruin 
of  Italy;  this  also,  the 
facts  of  the  recent  history 
of  Italy  will  make  clear. 
The  map  shows  how 
Italy  was  in  the  main 
divided — Venice,  Milan, 
and       Flor-    ^_    ^.  . 

Main  divi- 

ence  to  the   sions  of 
north;     Na-    "^'^- 
pies  to  the    south;    the 
States  of  the  Church  between. 

(i)  The  States  of  the  Church.  Over  these  the  Popes 
had  a  shadowy  kind  of  rule,  but  they  v/ere  made  up  of 
petty  lordships  and  cities,  claiming  independence,  and 
even  Rome  was  ruled  by  its  Barons  rather    ^ 

Papal  States. 

than  by  the  Popes;  or  to  speak  more  cor- 
rectly the  Barons  and  the  Pope  were  always  quarrelling 
which  of  the  two  should  rule.     The  Pope  lived  in  his 
strong  castle  of  St.  Angelo,  close  by  the  city. 

(2)  Venice  was  a  commercial  city,  1,000  years  old, 
ruled  by  its  nobles  and  possessing  territory  like  ancient 


26  State  of  Christendom.  pt.    i. 

„    .  Rome,  ruled   for  the  benefit  of  its  citizens 

Venice. 

rather  than  its  subjects. 

(3)  /%;r«<:i?  was  also  a  commercial  republic,  but  not 
governed  by  its  nobles.     It  was  a  democratic  republic, 

but  one  family  of  citizens — the  Medici — had 

Florence. 

grown  by  trade  richer  than  the  rest,  and 
usurped  almost  despotic  power.  It  also  possessed  con- 
siderable territory. 

(4)  Milan  was  a  State  to  which  there  were  many  rival 
claims.   The  King  of  France,  as  Duke  of  Orleans,  claimed 

it  by  inheritance  from  the  last  Duke  of  Mi- 

Milan.  ' 

Ian.  The  King  of  Naples  (and  Spain  through 
him)  also  had  a  claim,  and  the  Emperor  of  Germany 
claimed  it  as  having  reverted  to  the  Empire.  Meanwhile 
the  Sforza  family  had  possession,  and  kept  it  off  and  on 
till  1 5 12. 

(5)  Naples  was  also  a  State  to  which  there  were  rival 
claims.     Its   nobles   had   usurped    almost  uncontrolled 
power.     The  right  to  feudal  sovereignty  over  it  was  dis- 
puted between  the  Counts  of  Anion  (France) 

Naples.  J        \  I 

and  the  King  of  Arragon  (Spain).  The  lat- 
ter had  long  had  possession,  and  it  had  descended  to  a 
bastard  branch  of  that  house. 

That  the  Popes  were  continually  fomenting  quarrels 
between  these  Italian  States  and  bringing  'barbarian' 
princes  to  fight  their  battles  on  Italian  soil,  a  few  facts 
will  show, 

Alexander  VI.  and  Ceesar  Borgia  first  stirred  up 
Venice  and  Milan  against  Naples.  Then  they  invited 
Charles  VIII.  of  Franee,  who  in  1494  crossed  the  Alps, 
overturned  the  Medici  at  Florence,  and  entered  Naples 
in  1495.  Then  in  1495  the  Pope,  JVniee,  and  Milan 
joined  with  Ferdinand  of  Spain  in  turning  the  French 
out  of  Naples  again. 


CH.  III.  Germany.  27 

In  1500  Louis  XII.  of  France  took  Milan,  and  then 
he  and  Ferdinand  of  Spain  jointly  invaded  Naples.  But 
they  quarrelled,  and  Spam,  under  Gonsalvo    „     ,     ,.  . 

•^     '■  Fapal  politics 

de  Cordova,   defeated  the  French,  and  so    the  ruin  of 
Ferdinand  became    King   of   Naples,    and        ^' 
(having  Sardinia  and  Sicily  before)   of  the  two  Sicilies 
in  1505. 

In  1503  Julius  II.  became  Pope,  and  devoted  his  ten 
years'  reign  to  constant  war.  In  1509  he,  France,  Spain, 
and  Germany  formed  the  League  of  Cambray  against 
Venice.  But  the  robbers  quarrelled  on  the  eve  of  victory, 
and  so  Venice  was  not  ruined. 

In  151 1  Louis  XII.  of  Fra?tce  tried  to  get  Henry  VIII. 
oi  England  to  join  him  in  deposing  Julius  II.  But  Julius 
succeeded  in  getting  Ejigland  and  Spain  and  Germany 
to  join  his  'Holy  League'  against  France. 

After  driving  Louis  XII.  of  France  out  of  Italy, 
Julius  II.  died  in  1513,  and  was  succeeded  by  Leo  X. 

[b]  Germany. 

Next  to  Italy,  Germany  was  furthest  of  all  modern 
nations  from  having  attained  national  unity.  The  Ger- 
man, or,  as  it  called  itself,  '  the  Holy  Roman '    ^^  , 

Had  not  yet 

Empire,  was  a  power  which  belonged  to  the   attained 

old  order  of  things.    Like  the  Pope  of  Rome,    unity""^ 

the  Emperor  considered  himself  as  the  head 

of  Christendom.   He  called  himself '  Caesar,' 

and  '  King  of  Rome ; '  and,  as  successor  to    ci^'";'^^  to 

,  ,  be  Ca;sar 

the  Roman  Empire,  which  the  Germans  had   and  King  of 
conquered,  claimed  not  only  a  feudal  chief- 
tainship over  nations  of  German  origin,  but  also  a  sort 
of  vague  sovereignty  over  all  lands.     As  the  Pope  of 
Rome  was  the  spiritual  head,  so  the  Emperor  considered 
himself  the  'temporal  head  of  all  Christian  people.' 


The  Em- 
peror 


23 


State  of  Christendom. 


Switzerland  had  indeed  severed  herself  from  the  Ger- 
man Empire.  England,  Spain,  and  France  had  never 
properly  belonged  to  it.  But  the  French  king  had 
neverthe  less  sometimes  sworn  fealty  to  the  Empire ; 
and  even  Henry  VIII.  of  England,  when  it  suited  his 
purpose  (z.  e.  when  he  wanted  to  be  Emperor !)  took 
care  to  point  out  to  the  Electors  that  while  his  rival, 
-T.    ,  .  Francis   I.  of  France,    was   a  foreigner,  in 

His  claim  to  .  .  o         > 

universal  em-     electing  an   English  Emperor,  they  would 
shadowy.  not  be  departing  from  the  German  tongue. 

On  other  occasions  he  took  care  to  insist 
that  England,  however  Saxon  in  her  speech,  had  never 
been  subject  to  the  Empire.  So  the  claim  to  universal 
sovereignty  was  very  shadowy  indeed. 

When  a  vacancy  occurred,  the  new  Emperor  was 
elected  under  the  '  Golden 
Bull'  of  1356, 
by  seven  Prince 
Electors,  viz. :  [On  the 
Rhine].  The  three  Arch- 
bishops of  Maye7ice,  Treves, 
and  Cologne,  and  the  Count 
Palatine  of  the  Rhine,  [On 
the  Elbe].  The  king  of 
Bohemia,  the  Elector  of 
Saxony,  the  Margrave  of 
Bra7idenbiirg. 

The  ceremony  of  coronation  showed  the  feudal  nature 
ot  the  Empire.  When  elected,  the  Emperor  attended 
high  mass.  Then  the  Archbishop  of  Mayence,  as- 
Th  f  d  1  sisted  by  Cologne  and  Treves,  demanded 
ceremony.  of  him,  '  Will  you   maintain   the    Catholic 

faith  ? '  '  I  will.'  Then  he  demanded  of  his 
brother  electors,    '  Will   you   recognize   the   elected   as 


How  elected. 


THE  SEVEN  PRINCE  ELECTORS 


CH.   III.  Germain 


29 


Emperor  ?  '  '  So  be  it."  Then  he  was  robed  in  the  robes, 
girt  with  the  sword,  and  crowned  with  the  crown  of 
Charlemagne.  Then  came  the  banquet.  The  King  of 
Bohemia,  in  true  feudal  fashion,  was  the  imperial  cup- 
bearer ;  the  Count  Palatine  carved  the  first  slice  from 
the  roasted  ox  ;  the  Duke  of  Saxony  rode  up  to  his  stir- 
rups into  a  heap  of  oats,  and  filled  a  measure  with  grain 
for  his  lord  ;  and  lastly,  the  Margrave  of  Brandenburg 
rode  to  a  fountain  and  filled  the  imperial  ewer  with  water. 

When  elected,  the  Emperor  had  little  real  power  in 
Germany ;  and,  indeed,  as  time  went  on  he  seemed  to 
have  less  and  less. 

Once  large  domains  had  belonged  to  the  Emperor : 
some  in  Italy,  some  on  the  Rhine.  But  former  emperors 
had  lost  or    ceded  the   Italian    estates   to  ^ 

T      ,•  1  ,  ,        .  .  ,       .  ,         No  imperial  do- 

Itaiian  nobles  and  cities  dunng  struggles  mains, 
with  the  Popes ;  while  those  on  the  Rhine 
had  been  handed  over  to  the  Archbishops  of  Mayence, 
Treves,  and  Cologne,  who  were  Electors,  to  secure  votes 
and  pohtical  support.  For  some  generations  there  had 
been  no  imperial  domains  at  all ;  not  an  inch  of  territory 
in  Germany  or  Italy  came  to  the  Emperor  with  his  impe- 
rial crown.  The  Emperor  was  therefore  reduced  to  a 
mere  feudal  headship. 

Nor  had  the  Emperor,  as  feudal  head,  much  power  in 
Germany.  He  found  it  very  hard  to  get  troops  or 
money  from  the  German  people.     Maximi- 

.       .  Small  imperial 

hail,  the  reigning  Emperor,  was  notoriously  power, 
poor,  and  declared  that  the  Pope  drew  a 
hundred  times  larger  revenue  out  of  Germany  than  he 
did.     He  was  a  powerful  sovereign  in  Europe  because 
he  was  head  of  the  Austrian  house  of  Hapsburg,  which 
u'as  rising  into  great  power  in  Europe  by  its  alliances. 
Already  possessed   of  Austria   and    Bohemia,    Maxi- 


30  State  of  Christendom.  PT.  I. 

milian  had  married  Mary  of  Burgundy,  and  the  Nether- 
^,    ^  lands.     His  son  Philip  thus  was  heir-appa- 

1  he  Emperor  .  '■  '■ 

Maximilian,  rent  to  tliosc  provinccs  as  well  as  Austria. 
House  oi  "^'^  Philip  married  Joanna,  daughter  of  Isabella 
Hapsburg.  q|-  Spain ;  and  so  their  son  Charles  became 
heir  to  Spain  also.  Thus  was  the  House  of  Hapsburg 
pushing  itself  into  power  and  influence.  The  German 
Empire  was  the  crowning  symbol  of  their  power  rather 
than  the  reason  of  it.  In  the  case  of  Maximilian,  it  was 
the  power  of  Austria  that  made  the  German  Emperor 
great.  By-and-by,  as  we  shall  see,  when  Charles  V.  of 
„,    ,     ,,         Austria,  Spain,  and  the  Netherlands  rises  to 

Charles  V.  . 

the  Empire  and  becomes  the  most  powerful 
prince  in  Europe,  it  is  by  Spain,  not  Germany,  that  he 
wields  his  still  greater  influence. 

The  power  of  the  Emperor  was  far  less  in  Germany 
than  in  his  own  domains,  for  in  Germany  his  power  was 
checked  by  the  Diet  or  feudal  parliament  of  the  Empire. 
^^   ^.  The  Diet  was  a  feudal,  not  a  representative 

The  Diets.  * 

parliament;  /.  e.  only  the  Emperor's  feudal 
vassals  had  a  claim  to  attend  and  vote  in  it. 

The  Diet  met  and  voted  in  three  separate  houses: 

1.  The  Electors  (except  the  King  of  Bohemia,  who 

had  no  voice  except  in  the  election  of  an  Em- 
peror). 

2.  The  Princes,  lay  and  ecclesiastical. 

3.  The  Free   Imperial  Cities   (/.  e.  those  cities  which 

held  direct  of  the  Emperor). 
The  Electors  and  Princes  had  most  power.     Only  what 
was  agreed  upon  by  them  was  last  of  all  submitted  to  the 
House  of  Cities.     To  secure  the  carrying  out 

No  power  to  jo 

enforce  their      of  the  decrees  of  the  Diets,  there  had  also 

decrees.  ,     . 

recently  been  some  attempts  at  an  organiza- 
tion of  the   Empire.      It  was  divided  in  circles  for  the 


CH.  III.  Germany.  31 

maintenance  of  order;  but  this,  though  plausible  on  pa- 
per, had  little  effect  in  reality,  because  the  Diets  had  no 
real  power  to  enforce  their  decrees. 

Germany  was,  in  fact,  still  under  the  feudal  system — 
still  divided  up  into  petty  lordships — more   ^-    r  ^  , 
so  then  perhaps  any  other  country ;  certainly    tem  still  pre- 
more  so  than  England,  Spain,  or  France. 

One  reason  for  this  was,  as  we  have  seen,  that  the 
German  law  of  inheritance  divided  the  lordships  between 
the  sons  of  a  feudal  lord  on  his  death;    so    „  ....  .       , 

bubdivision  oi 

there  was  constant  subdivision,  and  in  con-    lordships  by 

,  ^  law  of  inherit- 

sequence  an  ever-mcreasing  host  of  petty   ance. 
sovereignties. 

The  mass  of  the  feudal  lords  were  petty  and  poor,  and 
yet  proud  and  independent,  resisting  any  attempts  of  the 
powers  above  them,  whether  Emperor,  or 
Diets,  .or  Princes,  to  control  them.  They  ^"ds'.""'  ^^'"^ 
claimed  the  right  of  waging  war;  and,  by 
their  petty  feuds,  the  public  peace  was  always  being 
broken. 

They  lived  a  wild  barbarian  life  in  times  of  peace 
(/,  e.  when  not  at  feud  with  some  neighbouring  lord),  de- 
voted to  the  chase,  trampling  over  their  tenants'  crops, 
scouring  the  woods  with  their  retainers  and  their  dogs. 
In  times  of  war  and  feuds,  with  helmets,  breastplates,  and 
cross-bows  they  lay  in  ambush  in  the  forests  watching  an 
enemy,  or  fell  upon  a  train  of  merchants  on  the  roads 
from  some  town  or  city  with  which  they  had  a  quarrel. 
They  became  as  wild  and  lawless  as  the  wolves. 

Glitz  von  Berlichingen  (popularlv  known  as  'Giitz  with 
the  Iron  Hand'),  and  Franz  von  Sickingcn  were  types  of 
this  wild  knighthood.   They  were  champions 
of  fist-law  (faust-recht).     They  called  it  pri-    of  the 
vate  war,  but  it  was  often  plunder  and  pillage    ■'"'S"'^- 


3-  State  of  Christendom.  pt.  i. 

by  which  they  lived.  Gotz  was  indeed  more  hke  the  head 
of  a  band  of  robbers  than  anything  else.  He  one  day 
saw  a  pack  of  wolves  fall  upon  a  flock  of  sheep.  '  Good 
luck,  dear  comrades,'  said  Gotz,  'good  luck  to  us  all  and 
everywhere!'  These  lawless  knights  were  indeed  like 
wolves,  and,  just  as  much  as  the  wild  animals  they 
hunted,  belonged  to  the  old  order  of  things,  which  must 
go  out  to  make  way  for  advancing  civilization. 

The  free  towns  of  Germany  were  her  real  strength. 
The  citizens  were  thrifty,  earned  much  by  their  com- 
The  towns  of  rnerce,  spent  little,  and  so  saved  much. 
Germany.  Each  city  was  a  little  free  state  (for  they  had 

mostly  thrown  off  their  feudal  lords),  self-governed,  like 
a  little  republic,  fortified,  well  stored  with  money  in  its 
treasury,  a  year's  provisions  and  firing  often  stored  up 
against  a  siege.  The  little  towns  were  of  course  de- 
pendent in  part  on  the  peasantry  round,  buying  their 
corn,  and  in  return  supplying  them  with  manufactured 
goods.  But  the  bigger  towns  lived  by  a  wider  commerce, 
and  held  their  heads  above  the  peasantry.  Above  all, 
they  hated  the  feudal  lords,  whose  feuds  and  petty  wars 
and   lawless  deeds  put   their  commerce  in 

Their  leacjiies  ,        , 

for  mutual         peril.     Two  hundred  years  ago,  sixty  towns 
^^"""  on  the  Rhine  had  leagued  themselves  to- 

gether to  protect  their  commerce.  After  that  had  coftie 
the  league^  of  the  Hanse  Towns,  chiefly  in  the  North  of 
Germany,  but  including  Cologne  and  twenty-nine  adja- 
cent towns,  and  aiming  at  defending  commerce  from 
robberies  by  land  as  well  as  piracy  by  sea. 

They  had  to  form  these  leagues  because  Germany 
was  divided  and  without  a  real  head — not  yet  a  nation  — 

1  See  the  Map  of  Commerce. 


CH.   III.  Germany.  7^2> 

though  all  that  was  ?ood  and  great  in  it  was   ,„ 

^  .  -r       r  Want  of  a 

sighing  for  more  national  life,  for  a  central    central  power 

^    ^.  .  1    ^  •  to  maintain 

representative  power  strong  enough  to  main-    the  public 

tain  the  public  peace,  but  hitherto  sighing   P^*"- 

in  vain,  finding  in  her  Emperor  little  more  help  than 

Italy  found  in  her  Pope. 

No  class  in  Germany  had  suffered  more  from  want  of 

a  central  power  than  the  peasantry.     They  still  were  in 

feudal  serfdom.     While  in  other  countries,    _, 

The  con- 
where  there  was  a  well-established  central    ditionofthe 

1        -1  <-      1  -L     J     peasantry 

government,  the  lot  of  the  peasantry  had   growing 
improved  and  serfdom  almost  been  got  rid   {Jarjer  for'^ 
of,  here  in  Germany  their  lot  had  grown    want  of  a 

central   power. 

harder  and  harder  for  want  of  it. 

The  German  peasant,  or  '  Bauer ^  was  still  a  feudal 
tenant.  In  many  ways  he  was  no  doubt  better  off  than 
a  labourer  for  wages.  His  house  was  no  mere  labourer's 
cottage — it  was  a  little  farm.  He  had  about  him  his 
land  and  his  live  stock,  his  barn  and  his  stack.  Under 
the  same  roof  with  his  family  his  cows  and  pigs  lay  upon 
their  straw  and  he  upon  his  bed.  On  the  raised  cooking 
hearth  the  wood  crackled  under  the  great  iron  pot  hung 
on  its  rack  from  the  chimney-hood  above,  while  sauce- 
pans and  gridirons,  pewter  dishes  and  pitchers  with  their 
pewter  lids  were  hung  upon  the  walls  ;  the  oak  table  and 
coffee  were  heirlooms  with  his  house  and  his  land.  In 
mere  outward  comforts  many  a  free  peasant,  working 
for  wages  and  having  no  land  to  till  for  himself,  would 
gladly  have  changed  places  with  him ;  but  behind  all 
was  his  thraldom  to  his  feudal  lord. 

He  had  traditions  of  old  and  better  days,  when  he  was 
far  more  free,  when  his  services  were  not  so  hard  and  the 
exactions  of  his  lord  not  so  great.     But  in    History  of 
the  fourteenth  century  the  Black  Death  had   'Bauer.' 
D 


34  State  of  Christendom.  pt.  I. 

thinned  the  population  of  Germany  and  made  labour 
scarce.  In  other  countries,  where  the  law  of  the  land 
had  fixed  the  amount  of  the  services,  and  where 
the  influence  of  commerce  had  substituted  money- 
payments  for  services,  this  scarcity  of  labour  strengthened 
the  peasant  in  his  struggle  for  freedom.  But  in  Germany, 
where  there  was  no  law  to  step  in,  and  where  services 
continued,  the  scarcity  of  labour  was  only  likely  to  make 
the  lords  insist  all  the  more  upon  their  performance ;  and 
so  they  had  encroached  more  and  more  on  the  peasants' 
rights,  enacted  more  and  more  labour  from  them,  in- 
creased their  burdens,  robbed  them  more  and  more  of 
their  common  rights  over  the  pastures,  the  wild  game, 
and  the  fish  in  the  rivers,  grown  more  and  more  inso- 
lent, till  the  peasants  in  some  places  had  sunk  almost 
into  slavery.  It  was  galling  to  them  to  have  to  work  for 
their  lords  in  fine  weather,  and  to  have  to  steal  in  their 
own  little  crops  on  rainy  days.  Small  a  thing  as  it 
might  be,  perhaps  it  was  still  more  galling  to  receive 
orders  on  holidays  to  turn  out  and  gather  wild  straw- 
berries for  the  folks  at  the  Castle.  Hard,  too,  it  seemed 
to  them  when,  on  the  death  of  a  peasant,  the  lord's 
agent  came  and  carried  off  from  the  widow's  home  the 
hcriot  or  'best  chattel,'  according  to  the  feudal  custom — 
perhaps  the  horse  or  the  cow  on  which  the  family  was 
dependent. 

But  however  bad  a  pass  things  might  come  to,  there 
was  no  remedy — no  law  of  the  land  to  appeal  to  against 
„  ,  „.  the  encroachments  of  their  lords.     The  Ro- 

Rebellion  ,     •      i        i    ,  i        • 

his  only  man  civil  law  had  mdeed  been  brought  m 

reme  y.  ^^  ^^  ecclcsiastics,  and  the  lords  favoured 

it  because  it  tended  to  regard  serfs  as  slaves.  The  serfs 
naturally  hated  it  because  it  hardened  their  lot.  There 
was   no  good  in  appealing  to  it.     It  was  one  of  their 


CH.    III. 


Spain. 


35 


grievances.  So  the  peasants  of  each  place  must  fight  it 
out  with  their  own  lords.  They  must  rebel  or  submit, 
waiting  for  better  days,  if  ever  these  should  come ! 

(r)   Spain. 
Spain  was   destined  to    become    the    first    power  in 
Europe.     She  rapidly  grew  into  a  united   nation,  and 
during  the  era  attained  the  highest  point  of  Becoming 
power  and  prosperity  she  ever  reached ;  but    '^e  first 

'  L  1.  J  ^  •     ^  power  m 

she  fell  soon  after  from  the  pinnacle  on  which    Europe. 
she  then  stood,  and  has  never  since  risen  again  so  high. 
Ever  since  the  conquest  of  Spain  by  the  Goths  and 
Vandals,  in  the  eighth  century,  it  had  been  a  feudal 
nation;  and,  as  in  most  other  feudal  coun-    powerofthe 
tries,  the  power  had  got  into  the  hands  of  "°b'<^^- 
the  feudal  lords  or  nobles.     But  Spain  was  singular  in 
this,  that  it  had  passed  under  a  long  period  of  Moham- 
medan rule. 


By  the  invasions  of  the  Moors  the  feudal  chiefs  of 
Spain  had  been  driven  up   into  the   mountains  of  the 
north,  while  probably  the  peasantry  mostly    j^^-^^^^  .^^^ 
remained  in  the  conquered  country,  subject    the  north  by 

1  1        r       1    1     'he  Moors. 

to  the  Moors.     By  slow  degrees  the  feudal 

chiefs  reconquered  the  northern  provinces,  till  the  Moors 


3^  State  of  Christendom.  pt.  I. 

retained  only  the  rich  southern  provinces  ;  and  as  bit  af- 
ter bit  was  reconquered  by  the  nobles,  it  became  a  little 
independent  state  under  the  feudal  chief  who  recon- 
quered it. 

Already,  however,  there  had  grown  up  in  Spain  the 
three  kingdoms  of  Castile,  Arragon,  and  Navarre,  fa- 
„  .    voured    by    the    influence   of    the    towns. 

Reconquest  of  _  ^ 

Spain  from  the   Owing  to   the  constant  struggles  going   on 

floors,  except      ,,  i       t    i  ,-1  r 

Granada.  there  had  been  for  long  no  safety  except 

in  the  towns.  These  had  further  grown  in 
power  and  importance  by  trade  and  manufactures,  and 
had  become  little  states — like  little  Venices —  each  with 
its  independent  government. 

Both  in  Castile  and  Arragon  the  monarch  was  scarce- 
ly more  powerful  than  the  Emperor  in  Germany.     His 

power  was  controlled  by  the  Cortes  or  par- 
Kingdoms  of       J.  1,1. 

Castile  and        liamcnt,  at  which  met  the  nobles,  deputies 
rragon  from   the   towns,  and  clergy.     And  to  the 

Cortes  belonged  the  power  of  levying  taxes  and  enacting 
laws. 

Such  was  the  state  of  things  when,  by  the  marriage  of 

Ferdinand  of  Castile  to  Isabella  of  Arragon  (in  1481),  all 

Spain,  except  Navarre   and  Granada,  was 

united  under 

Ferdinand  and    united  under  One  monarchy,  and  from  this 

time  the  tendency  was  for  the  throne  to  be- 

Spain  becomes    (-Qj^g  more  and  more  absolute.     It  was  one 

more  and  more 

absolute.  of  the  first  objects  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella 

to  extend  the  power  of  the  monarchy. 

Spain  had  found,  as  the  Germans  had  found,  that 
without  some  central  power  it  was  hard  to  keep  the 
peace,  to  protect  trade  and  commerce,  and  to  put  down 
robbery  and  crime.  The  cities  had  united  in  a  '  Holy 
Brotherhood '  for  this  purpose,  and  Ferdinand  sided  with 
them  in  this  object.     But  what  more  than  anything  else 


CH.   III.  Spain.  37 

counteracted  the  feudal  tendency  to  separate  into  little 
petty  states,  and  to  strengthen  the  national  feeling  and 
make  it  rally  round  the  common  centre  of 
the  throne,  was  the  war  long  waged  by  Fer-    Granada. 
dinand,  and  at  length  successful,  against  the 
last  stronghold  of  the  Moors  in  Granada.     In  1492  Gra- 
nada was  taken,  the  700  years'  struggle  ended,  and  the 
Moors  driven  forever  out  of  Spain,     Thus  was  all  Spain 
(except  the  little  state  of  Navarre,  under  shelter  of  the 
Pyrenees)  united  in  one  nation.     The  modern  kingdom 
of  Spain,  thus  formed,  rose  up  at  once  to  be  one  of  the 
first  powers  of  Europe. 

We  have  already  seen  how  Charles  VIII.  of  France 
had  been  invited  by  Pope  Alexander  VI.  to  conquer 
Naples.     As  a  bribe  to  keep  Ferdinand  (who 

,,.,,.  ,  Ferdinand's 

had  a  rival  claim  on  Naples)  quiet  while  he  policy  to  com- 
went  on  this  raid  on  Naples,  he  had  ceded  ^'  ^  ^'""' 
to  Ferdinand  the  little  state  of  Perpignan,  on  the  Span- 
ish side  of  the  Pyrenees.  Ferdinand  was  intent  on  the 
completion  of  the  kingdom  of  Spain,  and  took  the  bribe. 
We  shall  soon  find  him  (in  1512)  obtaining  possession 
of  Navarre.  In  the  meantime  the  result  of  the  Italian 
wars  was  that  he  got  hold  of  Naples ;  and  having  the 
islands  of  Sardinia  and  Sicily  already,  he  became  King 
of  the  '  Two  Sicilies,'  as  well  as  of  Spain. 

Another  fact  added  to  the  power  of  Spain.  It  was 
under  Spanish  auspices  that  Columbus  discovered  Ame- 
rica. This  not  only  threw  the  gold  of  the  mines  of  Peru 
into    the    treasuries   of    Spain ;     it    added    ^  ,     , 

'  I  1  1  1  r  T  Columbus. 

another  great  laurel  to  her  fame.     It  was 
Spain  that  had  driven  the  Moors  out  of  Western  Europe; 
it  was  Spain  that  enlarged  Christendom  by  the  discovery 
of  the  New  World. 


38  State  of  Ch?-istendom.  pt.  i. 

„  The  foreiq:n   policy   of  princes   in  those 

Foreign  po-  . 

licy.    Mar-        days  was  very  much  influenced  by  the  mar- 
ri-iges.  riages  they  planned  and  effected  for  their 

children. 

Ferdinand's  first  aim  was  to  get  all  the  Spanish  Pe- 
ninsula under  the  power  of  the  Spanish  Crown.  So  he 
married  his  eldest  daughter  to  the  King  of  Portugal,  in 
hopes  of  some  day  uniting  the  two  Crowns.  This  came 
to  pass  in  the  person  of  Philip  II.,  the  husband  of  the 
English  Queen  Mary. 

His  next  policy  was  to  ally  himself  with  such  foreign 
powers  as  would  best  help  him  to  secure  his  ends. 
There  were  two  reasons  why  he  did  not  ally  himself  with 
France.  France  was  his  rival  in  Italy.  He  had  fought 
with  France  ^or  Naples,  and  meant  to  keep  it.  He  also 
wanted  Navarre  to  complete  the  Spanish  kingdom. 
France  claimed  it  also.  The  aim  of  Spanish  foreign 
policy  was,  therefore,  to  work  against  France. 

By  the  marriage  of  his  daughter  Cathcrme  to  the  King 
of  England,  and  yoanna  to  the  heir  of  the  rising  Aus- 
trian House  of  Hapsburg,  who  held  the  Netherlands, 
and  whose  head,  Maximilian  I.,  was  Emperor  of  Ger- 
many, he  connected  himself  with  the  two  powers  who, 
like  himself,  were  jealous  of  France — Engtajid,  because 
part  of  France  had  so  long  been  claimed  as  belonging  to 
the  English  Crown — the  House  of  Hapsburg,  because 
France  had  got  hold  of  part  of  Burgundy  (which  former- 
ly belonged  to  the  same  Burgundian  kingdom  as  the 
Netherlands). 

And  on  the  whole,  though   his  schemes 

Success  of  ...  .        ' 

these  alliances,    did  not  prosper  in  his  lifetime,  they  did  suc- 
ceed in  making  Spain  the  first  power  in  Eu- 
rope during  the  next  reign. 

When  Queen  Isabella  died,  Joanna  became  Queen  of 


CH.   III.  Spain.  39 

Castile.     She,  however,  was  insane,   and  her  husband 

Phihp  dying  soon  after,   Ferdinand    held  the  reins  of 

Castile  in  her  name  as  Regent.     On  his  death,  in   15 16, 

Castile  and  Arragon  were  again  united,  under  Charles 

v.,  and  Spain  became  greater  than  ever. 

The  domestic  policy  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  had 

also  for  its  object  the  consolidation  of  Spain    ^ 

■'  Domestic  po- 

under their  throne.      Their  great  minister   licy. 

was  Cardinal  Ximenes,  whose  policy  was  to 
strengthen  the  central  power  of  the  Crown  by  engaging 
all  Spain  in  a  natio7ial  war  against  the  Moors,  and  by 
strengthening  the  towns  (or  loyal  element)  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  feudal  nobles  (the  disloyal  clement,  in  Spain 
as  elsewhere).     The  subjugation  of  the  no-    „  _  ^ 

/  -'     °  Subjugation  oi 

bles  to  the  Crown  was  in  a  great  measure    the  nobles. 
effected,  and  the  Crown  became  more  and  more  abso- 
lute. 

Not  content  with  driving  out  of  Spain  the  last  rem- 
nant of  the  Mohammedan  Moors,  the  Catho-    -phe  inquisi- 
lic  zeal  of  the  king  and  queen  and  Ximenes    "°"- 
turned  itself  against  the  Jews  and  heretics.   They  founded 
the  'Inquisition'  in  Spain,  which  in  a  genera-    Banishment 
tion   burned   thousands  of  heretics.     They   °^  ^^'^  J'^^^^- 
expelled,  it  is  said,  more  than   100,000  Jews  from  thetr 
Spanish  homes.     These  first  took  refuge  in  Portugal,  and 
soon    after,  driven   from   thence,   were   scattered    over 
Europe. 

But  notwithstanding  this  zeal  for  the  Catholic  faith, 
by  which  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  earned  the  title  of  'the 
Catholic,'  there  was  no  notion  in  the  minds  of  Ximenes  or 
his  royal  master  and  mistress  to  sacrifice  Spain  to  Rome. 
They  were  as  zealous  in  reforming  the  morals  of  the 
clergy  and  monks  as  in  rooting  out  heresy.  They  de- 
manded from  the  Pope  bulls  enabling  them  to  visit  and 


40 


State  of  Christendom. 


PT.   I. 


■S.S  § 


ug 


a  I 


Vi 

W    R 

-( 

M    « 

O 

7. 
< 

*"'   2j 

S  '^- 

c1 

< 

o  a 

z 

tjj„ 

2^ 


S  W  ^  «  5 


.5   ^' 


s:  -  ^  §  S  8^.<^,  ^ 


'•^-^ 


ii"« 


2^ 

»  V,     s 't-  ;j  >v  v^ 'S  si 
j!  a^-S  5-=i  vj  !^  S  '^ 

''       5  S  -»      !>  *       5> 


i<. 


b  S  « 


.-ft  .<!    So  J^ 

~  ^ « 5 

^  s  k  2 
— ■  ?  »'''  5 


75  5---'^' 
tc  ? 


;to- 


W 


-2  'n'I  il  I* 


ic 


:^ 


>i-S 


►J  .,-2-2  s 


^^•S.S  a 
■5.=  ''.-iiiS 


O    Jv  ^   ^  K   R 

^  ^  «  »-     -^ 

Pi    "^    ^   "         - 


y 


5  »-5 


•o  G 


us 


CH.  III.  Spain.  41 

reform  the  monasteries.     They  claimed  the    ,   , 

\  .  Independent 

right  in  many  cases  of  appointing  their  own    policy  to- 
bishops.   And  when  the  scandals  of  Alexan- 
der VI. 's  wicked  reign  came  to  their  knowledge,  they 
threatened    to   combine   with   other   sovereigns    in   his 
'  correctiott.' 

One  other  thing  we  must  notice.  The  discoveries  of 
Columbus,  followed  up  by  the  conquest  of  Mexico  and 
Peru,  gave  to  Spain  suddenly  a  colonial  em-  colonial  po- 
pire  to  govern.  Her  colonies  in  the  New  '"^v- 
World  were  in  one  sense  the  gem  in  her  Crown.  Her 
dreams  of  wealth  in  gold  and  silver  were  more  than 
realized.  To  have  extended  C/ir!stendo?n  into  a  new 
world  seemed  in  itself  a  worthy  exploit  to  the  Catholic 
zeal  of  Queen  Isabella.  Her  royal  anxiety  to  convert 
the  heathen  inhabitants  of  the  new-found  lands  to  the 
Catholic  faith  was  no  doubt  as  genuine  as  her  anxiety 
to  root  heresy  out  of  Spain. 

She  sent  out  Catholic  missionaries,  but  the  selfishness 
of  her  Spanish  colonists  introduced  slavery  instead  of 
Christianity.  In  these  first  Spanish  colonies 
was  begun  that  cruel  policy  by  which  the 
native  races  were  exterminated — worked  to  death — and 
then  African  negroes  introduced  to  supply  their  place. 
The  introduction  of  slavery,  and  its  necessary  feeder — 
the  slave  trade — was  a  blot  upon  the  colonial  policy,  not 
only  of  Spain  but  of  Christendom.  It  was  essentially 
contrary  to  the  genius  of  modern  civilization,  and  we 
know  how  great  a  struggle  has  been  needful  in  our  own 
times  to  prevent  its  ruining  the  greatest  of  the  colonies 
of  the  New  World, 

(d)  France. 
Machiavelli  says,   'The  kings  of  France  are  at  this 


42 


State  of  Christendom. 


PT.   I. 


How  all 
France  had 
grown  into 
one  nation. 


THE  GROWTH  OF  FRANCE 


time  more  rich  and  powerful  than  ever.'     So  they  were. 

The  dynasty  of  the  Capets, 
which  began  before  the  time 
of  the  Norman 
conquest  of  Eng- 
land and  lasted 
down  to  the  'Louis  Capet' 
(Louis  XVI.)  who  was  put 
to  death  during  the  French 
Revolution,  had  now  ruled 
France  for  about  five  hun- 
dred years.  But  the  France 
ruled  by  the  first  Capet 
was  only  the  portion  marked  dark  on  the  map.  It  was 
as  though  the  King  of  England  had  ruled-  only  York- 
shire. The  rest  of  France  was  divided  among  the 
great  Barons. 

These  Baronies,  or  '  DucJiies,'  had  gradually  been  ab- 
sorbed into  the  kingdom.  The  dates  when  they  thus  fell 
in  are  marked  on  the  map. 
Now  if  we  look  at  France 
at  the  begin- 
ning of  the 
new  era,  we 
shall  see,  from 
comparing  the  two  maps, 
how  she  had  grown,  and 
hov,'  she  claimed  now  not 
only  all  France,  but  Milan 
and  Naples  also.  She  had, 
in  fact,  become  the  second 
great  power  in  Europe,  and 
by  aiming  to  become  the 
first,  made  herself  the  great  rival  of  Spain. 


France 

claimed  Milan 
and  Naples 
also. 


FRANCE 
IN  THE  ERA 


CH.   III.  France.  43 

What  were  the  secrets  of  her  growing  power?  As  we 
have  seen,  Machiavelh  said  that  Italy  was  weaker  than 
either  Spain  or  France,  because  the  latter  were  each  of 
them  united  under  one  Croivn. 

We  have  now  to  mark  the  reasons  given    ^, . 

1  his  union  of 

by  him  why  the  Duchies  of  France  had  be-    ail  France  the 
come  united  under  the  Crown. 

(i)  The  Crown  was  not  elective,  as  in  Ger-    „         ,       ,. 

^    '  _  _  .  Crown  heredi- 

many,  but  hereditary  in  the  royal  family.        tary ; 

(2).  The  rule  of  mkeritance  in  France  was 
not  division  among  all  the  sons,  but  descent   g"n7ture- 
to  the  eldest  son  only. 

(3)  Intermarriages  with  the  royal  family    inter- 

1  11  n  111  marriage    with 

not  only  made  the  great  iiarons  loyal  to  the    tlie  royal 
throne,  but  sometimes  united  their  Duchies   f^°"'y- 
to  the  Crown  under  one  heir;  e.g.  the  kings 
of  France,  as  heirs  of  the  Duchies  of  Anjou  and  Orleans, 
claimed  both  those  Duchies  and  also  their  rights  to  Na- 
ples and  Milan. 

(4)  The  towns,  as  in  Spain  and  elsewhere,  had  fa- 
voured the  growth  of  the  central  power  as  the  best 
means  of  freeing  themselves  from  their  old 

feudal  lords.     Most  of  them  had  long  ago 

obtained  charters  of  freedom,  and  now  held  only  of  the 

Crown. 

The  final  struggle  of  the  Crown  with  the  great  feudal 
Barons  had  been  concluded  just  before  the  era  com- 
menced.    It  had  been  a  hard  struggle  be-    ^.    , 

"°  Final    struggle 

tween  Louis  XI.  and  the  Duke  of  Burgundy,    of  the  Crown 
The  king  had  prevailed,  and  from  that  time   gundy. 
the  unity  of  France  was  settled.     She  had 
become  powerful  enough  to  hold  her  own  against  both 
internal  and  foreign  foes. 

England  had  once  claimed  a  great  part  of  France,  but 


44  State  of  Christendom.  pt.  i. 

^    ,. ,  there  was   henceforth    no    real   chance   of 

English  con- 
quests at  her  getting  it  back  again.      She  could  no 

longer  find   allies   on   French  soil   against 
France. 

It  is  true  that  we  shall  find  Henry  VIll.  still  dream- 
ing soinetimes  of  reversing  the  decision  of  the  'hundred 
years'  war'  which  had  ended  in  the  withdrawal  of  Eng- 
land from  all  France  except  the  town  of  Calais ;  and  we 
shall  find  Spain  and  England  combining  during  the  era 
more  than  once  to  crush  France.  But  in  reality  the 
object lof  these  wars  we  shall  find  to  be  not  so  much  the 
dismemberment  of  France  as  opposition  to  the  aggressive 
policy  of  Louis  XII.  and  Francis  I,,  and  their  invasions 
of  Italy. 

The  hundred  years'  war  with  England  had  also 
tended  to  consolidate  the  French  nation.  It  was  a 
national  and  even  popular  struggle  to  turn  out  a  foreign 

foe.     It  necessitated  the  levying  of  national 

The  English  .  ^      t  r  ■  i 

wars  had  armies  and  the  payment  of  national  taxes. 

Ka^lio^nyrnd  It  did  for  Fraucc,  to  some  extent,  what  the 
increase  the       ^,^^^   ^\^    ^^    Moors   did    for    Spain:    it 

power  ot  the  * 

Crown:  strengthened    the     central    power    of    the 

Crown,  and  gave  it  a  recognized  place  as 

natural  head  and  leader  of  the  nation,  in  peace  as  well 

as  in  war. 

But  the  misfortune  of  France  was  that  in  outwardly 

becoming  a  great   nation   by   uniting  all   the  Duchies 
under  the  Crown,  and  so  enlarging  the  size 

but  there  were        ,  „  ,  i         •   ^    i 

seeds  of  dis-  of  France  on  the  map,  sad  mistakes  were 
union  within.  ^^^^^  v^\az\i  prevented  her  growth  in  mter- 
nal  toiiiy,  which  sowed  the  seeds  of  bitter  feeling  between 
classes,  and  ended  in  producing  her  Great  Revolution. 

We  cannot  note  too  carefully  these  fatal  mistakes. 

(i)  The   king   got   the   power  of  levying  taxes — the 


CH.   III.  Fraiicc.  45 

' taille' — without  the  consent  of  the  people.    „ 

Royal  taxes 

The  '  Estates   General,    or   French   Parlia-    without  con- 
ment,  which  had   hitherto   had   a   voice  in    people, 
matters  of  taxation,  hereafter  had  none  ;  the 
Crown  became  absolute. 

(2)    The    king,    successful    in    his    war    „ 

\ '  ^  Royal  stand- 

against   England,    henceforth   out  of  these    ing  army. 
taxes  kept  a  large  standing  army. 

These  things,  said  Philip  de  Commines,  the  con- 
temporary French  historian  of  Louis  XL,  'gave  a  wound 
to  his  kingdom  which  will  not  soon  be  closed.' 

He  was  right,  for  these  two  things  kept  classes  apart 
and  broke  up  the  internal  unity  of  France.  To  see  how 
they  did  this,  let  us  look  at  each  class  separately. 

The  nobility  or  noblesse  of  France  were  made  into 
a  permanently  separate  caste.  In  old  times  they  paid 
no  taille,  because  they  gave  their  military  services  to  the 
king  in  his  wars.  Now  there  was  a  standing  army  they 
were  less  and  less  needed  as  soldiers,  yet  their  freedom 
from  taxation  remained.    They  were  a  privi-   ^, 

.     ,        .  ,  The  noblesse 

leged  class,  and  mtermarned  with  one  an-  a  privileged 
other.  Their  estates  went  down  to  their  ""  ^^^  '^^  ^' 
eldest  sons,  but  the  younger  sons,  too,  belonged  to  the 
noblesse.  So  they  became  a  very  numerous  class, 
poor,  but  proud  of  their  blood  and  freedom  from 
taxes. 

The.  peasantry ,  on  the  other  hand,  were  the  burdened 
class.  In  some  respects  they  were  much  q^j^^  peasantry 
better  off  than  the  German  peasantry,  notserfc. 
Very  early  in  their  history  feudal  serfdom  had  been 
abolished  in  the  north  of  France,  especially  in  Normandy ; 
while  in  most  parts  their  services  in  labour  had  been 
long  ago  changed  into  fixed  rents,  paid  most  often  in 
corn,  wine,  or  fruits.     But  their  young  crops  still  suf- 


46  Slale  of  Christendotn.  pt.  I. 

but  paying  fcrcd  from  the  lord's  game.  They  still  had 
"■^"'^  tolls  and  fees  and  heriots  to  pay,  and  forced 

labour  to  give  on  the  roads.  They  still  looked  up  to  the 
feudal  lord  as  to  a  master,  and  the  lord  down  upon  them 
as  born  for  service.  There  was  an  impassable  barrier 
of  blood  between  the  two  classes.  The  Church  added 
^     ,  her  claims — her  tithes,  as  in  other  countries, 

and  tithes 

and  the  endless  fees  and  money  payments, 
which  made  her  so  obnoxious.  Bishops  and  abbots, 
in  France  as  in  Germany,  had  large  estates  as  well  as 
tithes,  and  so  were  landlords  and  princes  as  well  as 
priests,  drawing,  Machiavelli  says,  two-fifths  of  the 
annual  revenues  of  the  kingdom  into  their  ecclesiastical 
coffers.  Lastly  came  the  extra  burden  of  the  taille, 
growing  with  the  military  needs  of  kings  who,  having  an 
,     .„  army,  and  not  content  with  turning  out  the 

and  taiUe.  ■'.  .  ° 

English  and  conquering  refractory  barons, 
must  needs  lay  claim  to  Milan  and  Naples,  and  invade 
Italy. 

Here  is  a  picture  drawn  by  the  peasants  themselves  of 
their  hard  lot,  as  they  complained  to  the  States  General 
on  the  accession  of  Charles  VUL,  and  laid  their  grie- 
vances before  the  new  monarch,  hoping  for  a  remedy 
which  never  came. 

'  During  the  past  thirty-four  years  troops  have  been 
'  ever  passing  through  France  and  living  on  the  poor 
Their  grie-  '  People.  When  the  poor  man  has  managed 
vances.  '  ^y  ^j^g  g^ig  Qf  ^-j^g  zozX  on  his  back,  after 

'hard  toil,  to  pay  his  taille,  and  hopes  he  may  live  out 
'  the  year  on  the  little  he  has  left,  then  come  fresh  troops 
'to  his  cottage,  eating  him  up.  In  Normandy  multi- 
'  tudes  have  died  of  hunger.  From  want  of  beasts  men 
'  and  women  have  to  yoke  themselves  to  the  carts,  and 
'  others,  fearing  that   if  seen  in  the  daytime  they  will  be 


CH.   III.  France.  47 

•  seized  for  not  having  paid  their  taille,  are  compelled  to 
'work  at  night.  The  king  should  have  pity  on  his  poor 
'people,  and  relieve  them  from  the  said  tailles  and 
'charges.* 

Alas !  Charles  VIII.,  instead  of  listening  to  their  com- 
plaints, took  to  invading  Italy  !  increasing  their  taille 
and  spilling  more  of  their  blood. 

When  to  all  this  we  add  the  consciousness  that  while 
they,  the  much-enduring  peasantry,  were  bearing  their 
increasing  burdens,  the  noblesse  were  free  from  them, 
can  we  wonder  if  the  peasantry  should  learn  to  hate  as 
well  as  envy  the  nobles  ? 

The  middle  class  in  order  to  escape  the  incidents  of 
the  rural  taxation  more  and  more  left  the  rural  districts  to 
live  in  the  towns.     Not  sharing  the  blood  or   „, 

°  The  middle 

the  freedom  from  taille  of  the  nobles,  there    class  leave 

.  .  -..u  *-u  t'^'^  country 

was  no  mixmg  or  mtermarrjang  with  them,  for  the 
They  were  of  different  castes.  Neither  did  '°'^'"- 
the  men  of  the  towns  sympathize  with  the  peasantry. 
They  had  their  taille  to  pay  like  the  peasantry,  but  under 
their  charters  they  enjoyed  privileges  which  the  peasant 
did  not.  They  were  merchants  rather  than  manufactu- 
rers. Some  linen  manufactures  were  carried  on  in 
Brittany  and  Normandy,  but  mostly  France  was  supplied 
with  goods  from  the  looms  of  Flanders  in  exchange  for 
corn  and  wine.  The  towns  were  the  markets  in  which 
the  products  of  the  peasant  were  exchanged,  and  the 
townsmen  thus  had  the  chance  of  throwing  a  part  of 
their  burdens  on  their  rural  customers  in  the  shape  of 
tolls  and  dues.  While  thus  the  noblesse  grew  prouder 
and  poorer,  and  the  peasantry  were  more  and  more  bur- 
dened, the  middle  classes  in  the  towns  grew  richer  and 
more  and  more  powerful. 

Hence  the  gulf  between  different  classes  in  France  was 


48  State  of  Christendom.  pt.  i. 

ever  widening.  The  Crown  was  absolute  and  uncon- 
trolled by  any  parliament,  the  noblesse  a  privileged  caste, 
the  middle  class  settling  in  the  towns,  while  the  poor 
peasantry  were  left  to  bear  their  burdens  alone  in  the 
country.     France  had  grown  a  big  united 

Separation  ^  o  o 

of  classes  the  country  on  the  map,  but  looking  within  the 
French  nation,  a  state  of  things  had  begun  which,  if 

P^  ^'^"  unreformed,  was  sure  in  the  end  to  produce 

revolution,  though  it  might  not  come  yet. 

In  the  meantime  the  first  false  steps  of  the  absolute 
kings  of  France  were  those  attempts  at  aggrandizement 
Love  of  which  led  them  to  invade  I^aly  and  prove 

foreign  wars      their  Strength  in  a  long  rivalship  with  Spain. 

the  chief  vice  °  °  r-  r 

in  her  policy.  To  gratify  a  royal  lust  for  empire  and  mili- 
tary glory  they  were  ready  to  sacrifice  the  welfare  of  the 
French  people. 

(<?)  England. 
England  had  advanced  further  on  the  path  of  modern 
civilization  than  any  other  country. 
^^    ^    ,.  ,  The  English  people  had  long  ago  become 

The  English  .  o     o 

nation  a  compact   nation,    with   a   strong    central 

formed  government,  and  with  one  law  for  all  classes 

within  it. 
England  had  passed  under  the  feudal  system,  and,  like 
other  countries,  had  her  separate  feudal  elements,  need- 
ing to  be  blended  into  one  compact  whole.     But  happily 
in  England  this  work  had  in  good  measure  been  done. 

Her  feudal  nobles,  especially  since  the  wars  of  the 

Roses,  had  been  thoroughly  subdued  under  the  central 

power.     Early  in  her  history  the  petty  feudal 

not'a"c°as'te.''      lords  had  sunk  into  commoners.     Unlike  the 

noblesse  of  France,  the  nobility  of  England 

was  not  a  separate  caste.     The  younger  sons  of  nobles 


CH.   III.  England.  49 

became  commoners,  while  their  title  to  nobility,  as  well 
as  their  estates,  went  to  the  eldest  sons  only. 

England  possessed  a  numerous  and  powerful  middle 
class,   and  it  was   not,  as  in  France,  con- 
fined to  the  towns.     Landowners  and  yeo-'  ^^iddle 

^  classes. 

men  in  the  country  belonged  to  it,  as  well  as 
the  citizens  and  merchants. 

And  whilst  all  classes,  including  the  nobility,  had  been 
subjected  to  the  central  government,  they  had  none  of 
them   been    crushed   and    humbled.      The 

r-  1      J  .      1  11  •         "T^^  Crown 

Crown   had   not    become    absolute,    as    m    also  subject  to 
France.     It,  too,  was  subject  to  the  laws  of      *  ^^^' 
the  land. 

The  central  power,  or  government,  consisted  of — 
(i)  the  King,    (2)  the  House  of  Lords,  in  which  the 
nobility  had  seats ;  and  (3)  the  House  of  Commons,  where 
the  representatives  of  the  free  landholders,  and  of  the 
free  citizens  or  burgesses,  sat  side  by  side.    ^, 

The  govern- 
No  law  could  be  passed  without  the  concur-    ment  a  consti- 

rence  of  the  Crown  and  both  Houses  of  Par-  monarchy. 
liament.  And  the  laws  so  passed  were  bind- 
ing alike  on  king,  nobility,  and  commoners,  i.  c,  on  the 
whole  nation.  Nor  could  the  Crown  levy  taxes  without 
the  consent  of  Parliament.  The  government  of  Eng- 
land was  a  constitutional  monarchy,  and  had  long 
been  so. 

There  was,  however,  still  one  class  of  people  who  were 
not  altogether  blended  into  the  nation — the  ecclesiastics 
or  clergy.  Bishops  and  abbots,  because  they  were  great 
landholders  and  peers  of  the  realm,  had  scats 
in  the  House  of  Lords,  just  as  in  Germany  ^^^^  ecc  esias- 
the  ecclesiastical  princes  were  Electors  as 
well  as  the  lay  princes.  In  this  sense  they  were  Eng- 
lishmen. But  tlic  clergy  in  the  main  owcd^illcgiance  to 
E 


50  State  of  Christendotn.  PT.  I. 

Rome,  and  in  spite  of  the  Constitutions  of 

Ecclesiastics  -n        i     i    i  i      •        •       i 

not  altogether     Clarendon,  were  Still  ruled  by  ecclesiastical 
ngisimen.      j^^  ^^^  ecclesiastical  courts,  and  resented 
civil  interference.      So  they  were  subjects  of  the  great 
Roman  ecclesiastical  empire  rather  than   of  England. 
Their  allegiance  was  at  least  divided  between  the  Pope 
and  the  king,  and  often  they  were  really  foreigners.     The 
Pope  at  the  same  time  drew  large  revenues 
revenues .  fronT  from  England  as  well  as  the  king.     The  ec- 
"^  ^"  ■  clesiastical  power  was  more  under  control, 

and  had  been  for  long  more  restrained  by  law  in  Eng- 
land than  anywhere  else ;  but  still  the  fact  was  that  Rome 
had  ecclesiastical  sway  over  England.  And  in  England, 
as  elsewhere,  the  clergy  and  monks  had  got  a  large  part 
of  the  land  into  their  hands — probably  about  one-third 
of  the  land  of  England  belonged  to  them,  as  well  as 
tithes  from  the  whole. 

The  fact  that  there  was  one  law  of  the  land  made  by- 
King  and  Parliament,  and  ruling  all  classes  in  the  realm 
(except  the  clergy),  had,  more  than  anything 
hadgoTfree"^    clse,    helped  the   peasantry  to    rise   out   of 
from  feudal        feudal  servitude.     There  was  no  peasantrv 

servitude.  i^ 

in  Europe  (except  the  Swiss)  which  had  al- 
ready so  completely  got  out  of  it  as  the  English. 

It  early  became  the  law  of  the  land  in  England  that 
the  services  of  the  peasant  could  not  be  increased  by  the 
lord.  What  they  had  been  by  long  custom  they  must 
not  exceed.  Then,  by  the  influence  of  commerce,  mo- 
ney payments  were  early  substituted  for  labor  service. 
.So  that  people  became  used  to  money  rents  for  land  and 
money  wages  for  labour.  The  population  of  England  had 
increased  very  rapidly  up  to  the  fourteenth  century.  It 
was  then  nearly  twice  what  it  was  afterwards,  because 
the  Black  Death  in  1349  swept  away  half  of  it  in  a  few 


CH.   III.  Englatid.  51 

months.  This  of  course  made  labour  scarce.  In  spite 
of  all  that  the  lords  could  do,  and  in  spite  even  of  Acts 
of  Parliament  passed  to  prevent  it,  there  was  a  great  rise 
in  wages. 

Under  the  feudal  law  the  feudal  tenants  might  not 
leave  their  land.  But  now  more  and  more  they  went  to 
the  towns,  where  they  could  earn  higher  wages  than  by 
tilling  the  land.  There  was  of  course  a  struggle  to  pre- 
vent it,  but  aided  by  the  towns,  the  process  went  on. 
The  feudal  lords  tried  to  enforce  the  old  services,  which 
had  become  so  much  more  valuable  since  the  Black 
Death.  The  more  they  did,  the  more  their  tenants 
deserted  the  land  and  went  to  the  towns.  The  peasantry 
kept  up  a  kind  of  strike,  which  came  to  a  climax  in  the 
rebellion  under  Wat  Tyler  in  1381.  They  were  so  far 
successful  that  fixed  money  payments  became  general 
instead  of  services,  and  by  the  time  of  Henry  VH.  feudal 
servitude  or  villenage  was  at  an  end  in  England. 

Quite  a  new  state  of  things  had  grown  up.  Owing  to 
the  growth  of  the  woollen  manufactures,  and  the  demand 
for  wool,  sheep-farmintr  had  very  much  in-    „, 

^  °  ,     •'  1  he  present 

creased.  Instead  of  a  lot  of  little  peasants'  condition  of  the 
holdings,  the  large  farms  of  the  wealthy  P''^'^"  ""^^ 
sheep-owners  often  covered  the  country  side.  The 
masses  of  the  people  in  England  were  more  and  more 
becoming  a  free  people  working  for  wages,  while  such 
tenants  as  remained  on  the  land  paid  fixed  money  rents 
instead  of  services,  and  instead  of  being  tied  to  the  land 
were  ejected  from  their  holdings  if  they  could  not  pay 
their  rents.  No  doubt  the  masses  of  the  people  in  Eng- 
land had  their  hardships  to  endure.  They  had  suffered 
during  the  civil  war  of  the  Roses  from  anarchy  and  law- 
lessness and  the  ravages  of  armies.  Soldiers  disbanded 
after  foreign  wars  disturbed  the  country.     Small  tenants 


52  State  of  Christendom.  pt.  i. 

found  it  hard  to  compete  with  larger  ones,  and  on  failure 
to  pay  their  rents  lost  their  farms  very  often.  The  num- 
ber of  ejections  from  the  land  added  of  course  to  the  idle 
vagrant  population.  Robbery  was  thereby  increased, 
,  ,      and  as  both  thieves  and  vagabonds  were 

Freedom  did  .  . 

not  neces-  hung.    Sometimes    twenty    might    be    seen 

them'better  hanging  from  a  single  gibbet.  All  this 
°'^-  showed    that  there  were   evils   at    work — 

many   things   needing    reform — but    the    English   pea- 
santry had  earned  by  their  past  struggles 

They  had  no  ,  .       -^  ,  '         .         ^      .        .    ^^. 

share  in  the  this  great  advantage :  instead  of  being 
butXre*""'  servile  tenants  of  feudal  lords,  they  were 
was  nothing       fj-gg  subjects,  protected  by  the  law  of  the 

to  prevent  j  •    i.  j 

their  getting  land,  though  freedom  did  not  necessarily 
malce  them  better  off,  but  often  the  con- 
trary. They  had  indeed  as  yet  no  share  in  making  the 
laws,  but  there  was  nothing  in  their  blood  or  in  the  law 
of  England  to  prevent  their  rising  by  industry  and  thrift 
into  owners  of  land,  and  as  such  claiming  a  voice  in  the 
government  of  their  country. 

Such  was  England  when,  after  the  wars  of  the  Roses, 
Henry  VH.  conquered  at  the  Battle  of  Bosworth,  and 
ascended  the  throne  in  1485. 

Henry  VII.  was  born  an  orphan,  a  few  months  after 

the  death  of  his  father,  Edmund  Tudor,  Earl  of  Rich- 

,„,        mond.     He  was  an  exile  in  Brittany  while 

Henry  VII.  ,  .    .,  .         .  , 

the  civil  wars  were  raging  in  England.     He 
was  twenty-six  when  the  young  princes  were  murdered, 
and  Richard  III.  usurped  the  throne.     At  once,  under- 
the  advice  of  Morton,  Bishop  of  Ely,  an  attempt  was 
.  „,  ,  ,  made  to  dethrone  in  his  favour  the  tyrant 

A  Welshman,  . 

and  landed         Richard   III.      He   was   only   twenty-eight 

when,  after  landing  at  Milford  Haven,  and 

winning  at  the  Battle  of  Bosworth,  he  was  proclaimed 


CH.  III.  Englajid.  53 

king.  His  family  (the  Tudors)  were  Welsh,  and  so  he 
had  wisely  landed  in  Wales.  Belonging  himself  to  the 
Lancastrian  house,  and  in  order  to  conciliate  the  York- 
ists, he  had  taken  an  oath  to  marry,  and  afterwards 
married,  Elizabeth  of  York,  daughter  of  Edward  IV., 
thereby  in  a  way  uniting  the  blood  of  the  xhe  throne 
two  rival  factions.  He  was  received  with  precarious, 
acclamation  in  London,  and  ascended  a  precarious 
throne.  It  is  well  to  note  how  precarious  it  was.  The 
four  previous  kings  had  all  been  violently  dethroned — 
Henry  VI.  imprisoned  and  murdered,  Edward  IV.  de- 
posed and  exiled,  Edward  V.  murdered,  Richard  III. 
slain  in  the  Battle  of  Bosworth. 

Henry  VII.  himself  was  a  usurper,  and,  though  he 
was  king  by  Act  of  Parliament,  there  were  •  other 
other  claimants  to  the  throne.    Two  of  them,    claimants. 
generally  thought  to  be  impostors,  invaded  England,  and 
tried  to  seize  upon  his  throne. 

The  first  of  these,  Lambert  Siinnel,  called    L,.in,bert 
himself  Edward,  Earl  of  Warwick,  and  was    !='"'"'^'- 
supported  by  the  Yorkist  nobility,  but  defeated  at  the 
battle  of  Stoke  in  1487. 

The  other,  Perkin  Warhcck,  professed  to  be  the  Duke 
of  York,  who  with  his  brother,  Edward  V.,  was  supposed 
to  have  been  murdered  by  Richard  III.  He  Perkin  War- 
was  supported  by  Edward  IV. 's  sister,  the  ^'='='^- 
Duchess  of  Burgundy,  by  the  kings  of  France  and 
Scotland,  who  were  continually  plotting  against  Hcniy 
VII.,  and  every  now  and  then,  when  it  suited  his  pur- 
pose, by  Ferdinand  of  Spain.  Perkin  Warbcck  was 
taken  prisoner  in  1497,  and  beheaded  in  1499. 

Henry  VII. 's  foreign  policy  was  peace  ^nd    -^cxw  vil 's 
alliance  with  Spain.     We  have  seen  that  the    fnitign 
foreign  policy   of  Spain  was   alliance  with 


54  Sfafe  of  Christendom.  PT.    i. 

England  against  France.  Henry  VII.  wanted  peace. 
This  alone  could  give  him  a  chance  of  establishing  him- 
self firmly  on  his  precarious  throne.  To  get  peace  he 
allied  himself  with  Spain.  While  both  were  infants  the 
Prince  of  Wales  was  betrothed  to  the  Princess  of  Spain, 
Catherine  of  Arragon.  Ferdinand  was  a  treacherous 
ally.  He  dragged  Henry  VII.  into  the  war  with  France 
which  ended  in  the  annexation  of  Brittany  to  France. 
And  when  it  suited  his  purpose  he  threat- 
witii'^Carher-  cncd  to  dethrone  Henry,  and  even  offered 
me  of  Catherine  of  Arragon  to  the  King  of  Scot- 

Arragon.  o  ^^ 

land.  At  length,  as  years  passed,  the  mar- 
riage of  Prince  Arthur  to  Catherine  took  place  ;  but 
Prince  Arthur  soon  after  died.  Then  came  negotiations 
for  Catherine's  marriage  with  Prince  Henry  (Henry 
VIII.),  and  on  the  death  of  his  queen  Henry  VII.  of- 
fered to  marry  his  late  son's  widow  himself!  At  length, 
in  1 503,  the  contract  for  the  inarriage  with  the  Prince 
Henry  was  signed,  but  as  Henry  was  not  yet  of  age  it 
could  be  set  aside  if  any  other  alliance  suited  him  better. 

It  is  well  to  mark  how  these  royal  marriages  were 
merely  a  part  of  the  foreign  policy  of  princes,  and  that 
from  the  first  there  had  been  great  lack  of  good  faith  as 
regards  this  marriage,  on  which  so  much  of  England's 
future  history  was  to  turn. 

Henry  VII. 's  domestic  policy  was  in  the  main  wise. 
King  and  usurper  as  he  was,  he  yet  took 

Henry    VII. 's  '^  .  ^  ,  r     1 

domestic  great  pains   to   conform  to   the   law  of  the 

'^°  "^^"  land.     Instead  of  trying  to  make  the  crown 

absolute,  he  remembered  he  was  a  constitutional  mon- 
arch, and  could  levy  no  taxes  without  consent  of  Par- 
liament. 

Still,  though  a  constitutional  monarchy,  the  govern- 
ment of  England  in  Tudor  times  was  not  conducted  just 


CH.  III.  England.  55 

as  it  is  now.     Parliament  did  not  sit  every 

His  position 

year  as  it  does  now.  Nor  were  there  as  as  regards 
now  a  prime  minister  and  a  cabinet  of  min-  ^r  lament, 
isters  representing  tlie  majority  in  Parliament,  responsi- 
ble to  Parliament,  remaining  in  office  only  so  long  as 
they  can  command  a  majority  in  Parliament,  and  giving 
place  to  another  prime  minister  and  cabinet  as  soon  as 
they  find  themselves  in  a  minority.  The  king  had  the 
reins  of  government  much  more  in  his  own  hands  than 
the  Crown  has  now.  He  chose  his  own  ministers  who 
were  responsible  to  him  alone.  And  as  the  regular  annual 
revenues  of  the  Crown  were  sufficient  to  pay  for  the 
ordinary  expenses  of  government,  and  did  not  need 
voting  by  Parliament  every  year  as  they  do  now,  it  was 
only  when  he  had  a  war  on  hand,  or  something  extra- 
ordinary happened  needing  fresh  taxes  or  laws,  that  it 
was  needful  for  a  Tudor  king  to  call  a  Parliament. 

The  chief  minister  of  Henry  VII,  was  Cardinal  Mor- 
ton, a  true  Englishman,  though  an  ecclesiastic.  He  was 
a  man   of  large    experience.      He   was   in    „.      .  . 

°  '  His  minister, 

middle  life  when  Henry  was  born.  He  was  Cardinal  Mor- 
a  privy  councillor,  and  faithful  adherent  of 
Henry  VI.  Edward  IV.  had  made  him  his  Lord  Chan- 
cellor, and  his  executor.  Richard  III.  had  thrown  him 
into  prison,  but  he  had  escaped  in  time  to  plan  the  enter- 
prise which  proved  successful  at  Bosworth  Field,  and  to 
him  Henry  VII.  owed  his  throne. 

Under  the  influence  of  Morton  Henry  VII.  on  the 
whole  did  what  the  weal  of  England  required. 

With  a  strong  hand  he  kept  all  classes  subject  to  tJ  e 
laws  of  the  land,  quelled  rebellion,  and  maintained  in- 
ternal  peace   and    order.     He   was   avari-    ^  , 

^  _  ,  Order  main- 

cious,  but  even  in  his  most  hard  and  unjust    tained, 
exactions  he  kept  within  the    letter   of  the  law. 


56  State  of  CJuHstcndom.  pt.   i. 

In  order  to  keep  the  nobility  in  check  he  favoured  the 
Middle  classes  gfowth  and  powcr  of  the  middle  classes — 
favoured.  notably  of  the  '  yeomen,'  /.  e.   small  landr 

holders,  and  tenant  farmers. 

Thus  he  did  much  to  conciliate  the  English  nation 
after  the  long  civil  wars.  He  also  paved  the  way  for 
_      ,  ,  the  union  of  England  and  Scotland  by  the 

Paved  the  _     ^  ■' 

way  for  the  marriage  of  his  daughter  Mary  to  the  king 
land  and  Scot-  of  Scots.  Being  himself  a  Welshman,  he 
^"  ■  reconciled  the  Welsh  to  English  rule.     After 

a  struggle  of  1,000  years  they  at  length  were  satisfied 
with  union  with  England.  Under  the  Tudor  dynasty 
^.    „  they  ceased  to  feel  themselves  a  conquered 

Finally  con-  '  .     . 

ciliated  the         people,  and  though  retammg  their  separate 
language,  ceased  to  rebel  from  what  they 
no  longer  considered  a  foreign  yoke. 

To  these  claims  of  Henry  VII.  to  English  respect  we 
must  add  that,  though  not  sagacious  enough  to  patronize 
.    , ,  Columbus,   he    did   the  next  best  thing  in 

And  began  '^ 

England's  sending  out   afterwards  Sebastian   Cabot  to 

pire.  discover  and  claim  for  England  a  foothold 

across  the  ocean  which  proved  the  begin- 
ning of  those  extensions  of  England  in  America  in 
which  half  the  English  people  now  dwell.  Thus  he  was 
the  founder  of  England's  colonial  empire. 

Of  his  later  years  we  shall  have  to  speak  again.  In 
the  meantime  it  may  help  to  fix  some  of  these  facts  on 
our  minds  if  we  dwell  a  moment  on  his  tomb. 

'  His  corpse  '  (says  the  chronicler) '  was  conveyed  .with 
'  funeral  pomp  to  Westminster,  and  there  buried  by  the 

'  good  queen,  his  wife,  in  a  sumptuous  and 

The  tomb  of        ,  "^   ,        ^        ,    '  ,  .    ,      ,         ,      J 

Henry  VII.  solemn    chapel,    which   he   had   not  long 

'  before    caused   to   be   builded.'     He   was 

buried  in  a  vault  just  big  enough  for  himself  and  his 


CH.  IV.  The  Necessity  for  Reform.  57 

queen,  under  the  pavement  in  the  centre  of  that  beauti- 
ful chapel  which  still  bears  his  name,  and  in  which, 
round  this  central  tomb,  so  many  Tudor  and  Stuart 
princes  were  afterwards  laid.  When  Henry  VII. 's  vault 
was  opened  in  1689  there  were  found  to  be  three  coffins 
instead  of  two  !  The  third  was  discovered  to  be  that  of 
James  I.  To  make  room  for  it  the  wood  had  been 
stripped  off  the  other  two,  leaving  the  inner  lead  coffins 
bare.  The  workmen  engaged  in  this  strange  work  were 
found  to  have  quaintly  scratched  their  names  on  the 
lead,  with  the  date  1625. 

In  that  tomb  of  Henry  VII.  lie,  therefore,  not  only 
the  heirs  of  the  two  English  contending  factions  of  York 
and  Lancaster,  and  of  the  traditions  of  Wales,  but  also 
the  Scotch  monarch  who,  thanks  to  the  policy  of  his 
great-grandfather,  Henry  VII. ,  ascended  the  English 
throne  and  became  the  first  king  of  Great  Britain. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


THE  NEED  OF  REFORM  AND  DANGER  OF  REVOLUTION. 

(a)    The  Necessity  for  Reform. 

Now,  after  this  review  of  the  state  of  Christendom,  it 
will  be  easy  to  see  in  what  points  it  fell  short  of  the 
demands  of  modern  civilization  and  wherein  therefore 
reform  was  needful. 

We  said  that  the  first  point  towards  which  modern 
civilization  specially  tended  was  this,  viz.,  the  formation 
of  compact  nations  living  peaceably  side  by  side,  respect- 
ing one  another's  rights  and  freedom. 


58  State  of  Christendom.  pt.  i. 

We  have  seen  that  the  modern  nations  were  fast 
,   ,       J  forming  themselves — that  England,  France, 

Italy  and  °  - 

Germany  and  Spain  were  already  formed,  but  that  Ita- 

united  ly  and  Germany  were  lagging  far  behind  in 

"^"°""-  this  matter. 

But  none  of  the  nations  were  living  peaceably  side  by 
side,  and  respecting  one  another's  rights.  They  were  at 
The  lack  of  Constant  war,  sometimes  under  the  leader- 
p"  ace  anT^'  ship  of  the  Popc,  like  a  band  of  robbers,  set- 
justice.  ting  upon  Venice,  or  Naples,  or  Milan  ;  then 

quarrelling  amongst  themselves,  and  forming  fresh 
leagues  to  drive  one  another  out.  Their  foreign  policy 
was  aggressive  and  wofuUy  wanting  in  good  faith.  This 
want  of  public  peace  and  international  morality  was  a 
crying  evil.  It  disturbed  commerce,  and  its  worst  re- 
sult was  that  it  inflicted  terrible  hardships  on  the  mass- 
es of  the  people.  The  voice  of  the  French  peasantry 
was  clear  upon  this  point.  Here  then  was  need  for 
reform. 

The  second  great  point  aimed  at  by  modern  civiliza- 
tion was,  that  (looking Ttv///^/;;  each  nation)  all  classes  of 
the  people  were  to  be  alike  citizens,  for  whose  common 
weal  the  nation  was  to  be  governed,  and  who  were  ulti- 
mately to  govern  themselves. 

Not  only  as  yet  had  the  masses  of  the  people  no  share 
in  the  government  of  the  nations  of  which  they  formed  so 
large  a  part,  but  also  they  were  very  far  from  being  re- 
garded as  free  citizens,  except  in  England,  where  in 
theory  they  were  so,  though  perhaps  not  much  so  in  prac- 
^,        ,,  tice.     In  Germany  especiallv,  the  peasantry 

The  serfdom  '  . 

of  the  Ger-  Were  Still  m  feudal  serfdom,  and  feehng  their 
santryTtill  thraldom  more  keenly  than  ever.  Here, 
continued.         again,  was  a  necessity  for  reform. 

We  have  alreadv  seen  that  there  was  a  necessitv  for 


C'li.   IV.  TJie  Necessity  for  Reform.  59 

reform  in  that  ecclesiastical  system  of  Rome    _,        , 

The  eccle- 

which  opposed  the  free  growth  of  the  modern    siastical  and 

,     .  ,  ...  scholastic 

nations,   and   m    the   scholastic    system   so    systems 
intimately  connected  with  it,  which  was  op-    "gfo*^^ 
posed   to   free   thought,    science,    and   true 
religion,  and  prevented  the  diffusion  of  the  benefits  of 
knowledge  and  education  among  the  masses  of  the  people. 

Now  the  question  for  the  new  era  was,  whether  the 
onward  course  of  modern  civilization  was  to 
be  by  a  gradual  timely  reform  in  these  things,    tive^s .Reform  or 
or  whether,  reform  being  refused  or  thwarted,    '■'=^'°'""°"- 
it  was  to  be  by  revolution. 

Recognizing  the  necessity  there  was  for  reform,  we 
have  now  to  see  the  danger  there  was  of  revolution ;  how 
far  and  wide,  in  fact,  the  train  was  already  laid,  waiting 
only  for  the  match  to  explode  it. 

[b)    The  Train  laid  for  Revolution. 
It  will  not  seem  strange,  (i),  that  it  was  among  the 
oppressed   peasantry  of  Germany  that  the    .^, 

'   .  '  ^  .        "^  The  train  was 

train  was  most   effectually  laid  for  rcvolu-   laid  among  the 
tion;  or,  (2),  that  when  attempts  had  been   santr'y"  ^^^" 
made  at  revolution,  they  were  aimed  at  the 
redress  of  both  religious  and  political  grievances. 

The  ecclesiastical  grievances  of  the  peasantry  were  as 
practical  and  real  as  those  involved  in  feudal  serfdom. 
The  peasant's  bondage   to  the  priests  and 

/  ^  *  ^  Their  ecclesi- 

monkswas  often  even  harder  than  the  bond-    astical  as  well 

age  to  his  feudal  lords.     It  was  not  only  that   grievances. 

he  had  tithes  to  pay,  but  after  paying  tithes, 

he  still  had  to  pay  for  everything  he  got  from  priests  and 

'church.     That  religion  which  should  have  been  his  help 

and   comfort   was   become   a   system   of  extortion  and 

fraud. 


6o  State  of  Christendom.  pt.  r. 

These  are  the  words  of  a  contemporary  writer  (Juan 
de  Valdez,  the  brother  of  the  secretary  of  the  Emperor 
Charles  V.),  himself  a  Catholic,  and  well  ac- 
rarytesti-"  quainted  with  the  condition  of  things  in 
"^""^'^  Germany :  '  I  see  that  we  can  scarcely  get 

'  anything  from  Christ's  ministers  but  for  money ;  at  bap- 
'tism  money,  at  bishoping  money,  at  marriage  money, 
'  for  confession  money — no,  not  extreme  unction  without 
'money!  They  will  ring  no  bells  without  money,  no 
'burial  in  the  church  without  money;  so  that  it  seemeth 
'that  Paradise  is  shut  up  from  them  that  have  no  money. 
'  The  rich  is  buried  in  the  church,  the  poor  in  the  church- 
'yard.  The  rich  man  may  marry  with  his  nearest  kin, 
'but  the  poor  not  so,  albeit  he  be  ready  to  die  for  love  of 
'  her.  The  rich  may  eat  flesh  in  Lent,  but  the  poor  may 
'  not,  albeit  fish  perhaps  be  much  dearer.  The  rich  man 
'  may  readily  get  large  indulgences,  but  the  poor  none,  be- 
'  cause  he  wanteth  money  to  pay  for  them.' 

We  must  remember,  too,  how  galling  to  the  peasant 
was  the  payment  of  the  large  and  small  tithes.  These 
words  were  written  in  England,  but  they  will  serve  for 
all  Europe : 

'They  have  their  tenth  part  of  all  the  corn,  meadows, 

'pasture,  grass,  wood,  colts,  calves,  lambs,  pigs,  geese, 

'and  chickens.     Over  and  beside  the  tenth 

Another  testi-  ,         ... 

mony.  'part  of  cvcry  servant  s  wages,  wool,  milk, 

'honey,  wax,  cheese,  and  butter;  yea,  and 
'  they  look  so  narrowly  after  their  profits  that  the  poor 
'wife  must  be  countable  to  them  for  every  tenth  egg,  or 
'  else  she  getteth  not  her  rights  at  Easter,  and  shall  be 
'taken  as  a  heretic' 

Can  we  wonder  that  the  peasants  should  rebel  against 
this  ?  and  that  in  Germany,  where  both  feudal  and  eccle- 
siastical oppression  was  so   galling,  they  should   rebel 


CH.  IV,  TJie  train  laid  for  Revolution.  6l 

against  both,  and  mix  the  two  together  in  their  minds, 
demanding  in  one  breath  both  rehgious  and  pohtical 
freedom  ?     Surely  there  was  reason  in  it. 

As  early  as  the  fourteenth  century  the  Swiss  peasants 
in  the  Forest  Cantons  had  rebelled  and  thrown  off  the 
yoke  of  their  Austrian  feudal  lords,  and  when 
the  latter  joined  in  a  common  cause  against  bellionof  the 
them,  the  Swiss  were  victorious  in  the  battle  ^^'^^'  ^315. 
of  Morgarten,  131 5.  The  Swiss  had  formerly  belonged 
to  the  German  Empire,  and  had  the  Empire  done  justice 
between  them  and  their  lords,  they  would  have  been 
glad  enough  to  remain  free  peasants  of  the  Empire ;  but 
as  the  Empire  helped  their  lords  instead  of  them,  they 
threw  off  the  yoke  of  the  Empire.  They  were  soon 
joined  by  other  neighboring  cantons,  and  their  flag,  with 
its  white  cross  on  a  red  ground,  became  the  flag  of  a  new 
nation,  the  Swiss  confederacy,  with  its  motto,  '  Each  for 
all,  and  all  for  each ' — a  nation  of  free  peasants,  letting 
out  their  sons  as  soldiers  to  fight  for  pay,  and,  alas,  not 
always  on  the  side  of  freedom  ! 

Between  1424  and  147 1  the  peasants  of  the  Rhajtian 
Alps  did  the  same  thing.     Oppressed  and  insulted  by 
their  lords  they  burned  their  castles  and    ^^^  jj^^      _ 
threw  off  their  yoke,  and  thus  was  formed    sants  of  the 

/  Oraubund, 

the  Graubund,  in  imitation  of  the  Swiss  con-    1441-71. 
federacy,  but  separate  from  it. 

Referring  to  the  map  'Serfdom  and  Rebellions  against 
it,'  we  mark  these  two  Swiss  republics  on  it  as  the  region 
where  rebellion  had  met  with  success.  It  was  no  doubt 
their  mountains  which  helped  the  Swiss  peasants  to  suc- 
cess and  independence.  Their  battles  were  little  Mara- 
thons. At  Morgarten  1,300  Swiss  won  the  day  against 
10,000  Austrian  troops.    Their  Alps  were  their  protection. 

We  mark  next  the  region  where  the  rebellion  against 


62  Siatc  of  Christendom.  px.  i. 

Rome  and  the  Empire,  which  followed  in  Bohemia  upon 
the  preaching  of  Wiclif  and  martyrdom  of 

UnSUCCCSS-  TT111  r  t  •  r 

ful  rebellion  Huss,  had  been,  alter  a  long  reign  of  terror, 
iards\nd'  '^'"'^  the  Hussitewars  (141 5-1436),  quelled  in 
Hussite  blood.     Hussite  doctrines  were  indeed  still 

wars,  141 5- 

1436.  held  by  the  people,  and  by  the  treaty  of 

Basle  in  some  sense  tolerated ;  but  this,  nev- 
ertheless, was  the  region  where  rebellion,  springing  out 
of  the  last  era  of  light  and  progress,  had  been  crushed 
to  rise  no  more. 

Now  we  have  got  to  mark  where,  in  connexion  with 
the  new  era,  there  were  signs,  as  we  have  said,  that  a 
train  was  laid  for  a  coming  revolution. 

The  John  the  Baptist  of  the  movement  was  Hans  Bo- 
hcim,  a  drummer,  who  had  appeared  in  1476  in  Franco- 
Threats  of  "'''■'  o'^  the  Tauber,  a  branch  of  the  Maine. 
Rebellion  in       jj[g  professed  to  be  a  prophet,  to  have  had 

r  ranconia  in  ^  .      . 

1476-  visions  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  and  to  be  sent  by 

her  to  proclaim  that  the  Kingdom  of  God  was  at  hand, 
that  the  yoke  of  bondage  to  lords  spiritual  and  temporal 
was  coming  to  an  end,  that  under  the  new  kingdom  there 
were  to  be  no  taxes,  tithes,  or  dues ;  all  were  to  be 
brethren,  and  woods,  and  waters,  and  pastures  were  to  be 
free  to  all  men.  A  crowd  of  40,000  pilgrims  flocked  to 
hear  the  prophet  of  the  Tauber  till  the  Bishops  of  Wurz- 
burg  and  Maintz  interfered,  dispersed  the  crowd  and 
burned  the  prophet.  He  was  but  a  sign  of  the  times — a 
voice  crying  in  the  wilderness !  But  his  cry  was  one 
which  found  a  response  in  the  hearts  of  the  peasantry — • 
freedom  from  the  yoke  of  their  feudal  and  spiritual  lords, 
and  the  restoration  of  those  rights  which  in  ancient  days 
had  belonged  to  the  community.  This  was  the  cry  of 
the  peasantry  for  many  generations  to  come. 

The  next  was  a  much  more  formidable  movement,  viz.. 


cii.   IV.  Tlic  train  laid  for  Revolution.  d^^ 

that   named  from  the  banner  borne  by  the    The 'Bund- 
peasantry,  the  Bundschuh,  or  peasant's  clog,   ^chuh' 

While  the  peasants  in  the  Rhsetian  Alps  were  gradu- 
ally throwing  off  the  yoke  of  the  nobles  and  forming  the 
Granbund,  a  struggle  was  going  on  between  ;„  Kempten, 
the  neighbouring  peasantry  of  Kempten  (to  '492- 
the  east  of  Lake  Constance)  and  their  feudal  lord,  the 
Abbot  of  Kempten.  It  began  in  1423,  and  came  to  an 
open  rebellion  in  1492.  It  was  a  rebellion  against  new 
demands  not  sanctioned  by  ancient  custom,  and  though 
it  was  crushed,  and  ended  in  little  good  to  the  peasantry 
(many  of  whom  fled  into  Switzerland),  yet  it  is  worthy 
of  note  because  in  it  for  the  first  time  appears  the  banner 
of  the  Bundschuh. 

The  next  rising  was  in  Elsass  (Alsace),  in  1493,  the 
peasants  finding  allies  in  the  burghers  of  the  towns 
along  the  Rhine,  who  had  their  own  grie-  j^  Elsass 
vances.  The  Biindscluth  was  again  their  '"tga- 
banner,  and  it  was  to  Switzerland  that  their  anxious  eyes 
were  turned  for  help.  This  movement  also  \vfcs  prema- 
turely discovered  and  put  down. 

Then,  in  1501,  other  peasants,  close  neighbours  to 
those  of  Kempten,  caught  the  infection,  and  in  1502, 
again  in  Elsass,  but  this  time  further  north,  g^j^  3^^;^  ;„ 
in  the  region  about  Speyer  and  the  Neckar,  1501-2- 
lower  down  the  Rhine,  nearer  Franconia,  the  Bund- 
schuh was  raised  again.  It  numbered  on  its  recruit 
rolls  many  thousands  of  peasants  from  the  country 
round,  along  the  Neckar  and  the  Rhine.  The  wild 
notion  was  to  rise  in  arms,  to  make  themselves  free, 
like  the  Swiss,  by  the  sword,  to  acknowledge  no  supe- 
rior but  the  Emperor,  and  all  Germany  was  to  join  the 
League.  They  were  to  pay  no  taxes  or  dues,  and  com- 
mons, forests,  and  rivers  were  to  be  free  to  all.     Here 


64  State  of  Christendom.  pt.  i. 

again  they  mixed  up  religion  with  their  demands,  and 
'Only  what  is  just  before  God'  was  the  motto  on  the 
banner  of  the  Bundschtih.  They,  too,  were  betrayed, 
and  in  savage  triumph  the  Emperor  Maximilian  ordered 
their  property  to  be  confiscated,  their  wives  and  children 
to  be  banished,  and  themselves  to  be  quartered  alive. 
It  would  have  been  suicide  on  the  part  of  the  nobles  to 
fulfil  orders  so  cruel  on  their  own  tenants.  They  would 
have  emptied  their  estates  of  peasants,  and  so  have  lost 
their  services,  for  the  conspiracy  was  widely  spread. 
Few,  therefore,  really  fell  victims  to  this  cruel  order  of 
the  Emperor.  The  ringleaders  dispersed,  fleeing  some 
into  Switzerland  and  some  into  the  Black  Forest.  For 
ten  years  now  there  was  silence.  The  Biindschuh  ban- 
ner was  furled,  but  only  for  a  while. 

In  1 512  and  1513,  on  the  east  side  of  the  Rhine,  in 
the  Black  Forest  and  the  neighbouring  districts  of  Wiir- 
temberg,  the  movement  was  again  on  foot 
Black  Forest  on  a  Still  larger  scale.  It  had  found  a  leader 
under  Joss  •'  i^i  yoss  Fntz.  A  soldier,  with  command- 
^"'^-  ing  presence,  and  great  natural  eloquence, 

used  to  battle,  hardship,  and  above  all,  patience,  he 
bided  his  time.  He  was  one  of  the  fugitives  who  had 
escaped  being  'quartered.'  He  hid  himself  for  years 
in  places  where  he  was  unknown,  but  never  despaired. 
At  length,  in  1512  he  returned  to  his  own  land,  settled 
near  Freiburg,  and  began  to  draw  together  again  the 
broken  threads  of  the  Peasants'  league.  He  got  him- 
self appointed  forester  under  a  neighbouring  lord,  talked 
to  the  peasants  in  the  fields,  or  at  inns  and  fairs,  and 
held  secret  meetings  at  a  lonely  place  among  the  forests 
in  the  dusk  of  evening.  There  he  talked  of  the  pea- 
sants' burdens,  of  the  wealth  of  their  ecclesiastical  op- 
pressors, of  the  injustice  of  their  blood  being  spilled  in 


CH.   IV.  The  (rain  laid  for  Revolution.  65 

the  quarrels  of  lords  and  princes,  how  they  were  robbed 
of  the  wild  game  of  the  forest,  and  the  fish  in  the  rivers, 
which  in  the  sight  of  God  were  free,  like  the  air  and  the 
sun,  to  all  men,  how  they  ought  to  have  no  masters  but 
God,  the  Pope,  and  the  Emperor.  Lastly,  he  talked  to 
them  of  the  Bjindsc/iu/i.  They  went  to  consult  their 
priest,  but  Joss  had  talked  over  the  priest  to  his  side, 
and  he  encouraged  the  movement.  Then  they  framed 
their  articles,  and  Joss  defended  them  out  of  the  Bible. 
They  were  first  to  seek  the  sanction  and  aid  of  the  Em- 
peror, and  if  he  refused  to  help  them  then  they  would 
turn  to  the  Swiss. 

There  was  a  company  of  licensed  beggars  who 
tramped  about  the  country  with  their  wallets,  begging 
alms  wherever  they  went — a  sort  of  guild,  with  elected 
captains.  This  guild  Joss  took  into  his  confidence. 
They  were  his  spies,  and  through  them  he  knew  what 
watches  were  kept  at  city  gates,  and  through  them  he 
kept  the  various  ends  of  the  conspiracy  going.  His  plans 
were  now  all  laid.  He  wanted  nothing  but  the  Biindschuh 
banner.  He  got  some  silk  and  made  a  banner — ^blue, 
with  a  white  cross  upon  it.  The  white  cross  was  the 
Swiss  emblem.  Some  of  his  followers  would  have  pre- 
ferred the  eagle  of  the  Empire.  But  how  was  the  Bund- 
schuh  to  be  added  ?  What  painter  could  be  found  who 
would  keep  the  secret  ?  Twice  he  tried  and  was  disap- 
pointed, and  all  but  betrayed.  At  length,  far  away  on 
the  banks  of  the  Neckar,  he  found  a  painter,  who 
painted  upon  it  the  Virgin  Mary  and  St.  John,  the  Pope 
and  the  Emperor,  a  peasant  kneeling  before  the  cross,  a 
Btmdschtth,  and  under  it  the  motto  '  O  Lord,  help  the 
righteous.'  He  returned  with  it  imder  his  clothes,  but 
ere  he  reached  home  the  secret  was  out.  Again  the 
League  was  betrayed.  A  few  days  more  and  the  ban- 
F 


66  State  of  Christendom.  rx.  i. 

ner  would  have  been  unfurled.  Thousands  of  peasants 
were  ready  to  march,  but  now  all  was  over,  the  whole 
thing  was  out,  and  Joss  Fritz,  with  the  banner  under  his 
clothes,  had  to  fly  for  his  life  to  Switzerland.  Every- 
thing was  lost  but  his  own  resolution.  Those  conspira- 
tors who  were  seized  were  put  to  torture,  hung,  be- 
headed, and  some  of  them  quartered  alive. 

But  Joss  Fritz  was  not  disheartened.  He  returned 
after  a  while  to  the  Black  Forest,  went  about  his  secret 
errands,  and  again  bided  his  time. 

In  1 5 14  the  peasantry  of  the  Duke  Ulrich  of  Wurtem- 

berg  rose  to  resist  the  tyranny  of  their  lord,  who  had 

ground  them  down   with  taxes  to  pay  for 

Wdrtem'berg      ^is   rcckless  luxury  and   expensive   court. 

and  the  "j-j^g  same  year,  in  the  valleys  of  the  Aus- 

Austrian  •'  ^ 

Alps.  trian  Alps,  in  Carinthia,  Styria,  and  Grain, 

similar  risings  of  the  peasantry  took  place,  all  of  them 
ending  in  the  triumph  of  the  nobles. 

To  defend  themselves  against  such  risings  a  league 
had  been  formed  among  the  nobles  of  the  whole  district 
The  Swabian  to  the  north  of  Switzerland,  called  the  Swa- 
against  the  •  biaii  League,  and  a  proclamation  was  issued 
peasants.  \}a.'s.\.  '  Since  in  the  land  of  Swabia,  and  all 

'  over  the  Empire,  among  the  vassals  and  poor  people 
'  disturbances  and  insurrections  are  taking  place,  with 
'  setting  up  of  the  standard  of  the  Bundschuh  and  other 
'  ensigns  against  the  authority  of  their  natural  lords  and 
'  rulers,  with  a  view  to  the  destruction  of  the  nobles  and 
'  all  honourable  persons,  the  noble  and  knightly  orders 
'have  therefore  agreed,  whatever  shall  happen,  to  sup- 
'  port  each  other  against  every  such  attempt  on  the  part 
'  of  the  common  man.* 

This  brings  forcibly  into  view  again  the  fatal  vice  in 
the  policy  of  feudal  Germany — want  of  the  consolidation 


CH.  IV.       *  The  train  laid  for  Revolution.  67 

of  the  German  people  into  a  compact  nation. 
For  here  were  the  peasantry  of  Germany  ap-   wide^he 
j)eahng  helplessly  to  some  higher  power  to   f^Xfo^^ 
protect  them  from  the  oppression  of  their   ["'!^''^  '■^vo- 
feudal  lords,  conspiring  for  a  general  rebel- 
lion for  lack  of  it,  and  debating  whether  on  the  flag  of  the 
Bundschuh  they  should  paint  the  eagle  of  the  Empire  or 
the  white  cross   of  the  Swiss  republic.      Here  on  the 
other  hand  were  the  nobles   and   knightly  orders  con- 
spiring by  the  sheer  force  of  their  combined  swords  to 
crush  these  '  attempts  on  the  part  of  the  common  man.' 
The  crying  need  of  both  was  for  a  German  nation — a 
commonwealth — with  a  strong  central  power  or  govern- 
ment to  hold  the  sword  of  justice  between  them,  settling 
their  disputes  by  the  law  of  the  land  for  their  common 
weal.    For  lack  of  this  there  was  rebellion  and  bloodshed. 
These  risings  of  the  peasantry  were  crushed  for  a  while, 
but  Joss  Fritz  was  only  biding  his  time,  and  meanwhile 
let  us  bear  in  mind  where,  how  far  and  wide  over  Cen- 
tral   Europe,  the  train  was  laid,  waiting  only  for  the 
match  to  ignite  it. 

It  is  well  to  look  once  more  on  the  map  of  serfdom,  to 
fix  these  revolutionary  localities  in  our  mind,  and  before 
we  pass  away  from  them  to  mark  how  they  lie,  not  in 
the  region  of  darkest  shadow,  where  serfdom  was  most 
complete — where  a  conquered  Slavonian  peasantry  were 
in  bondage  too  complete  for  rebellion — nor  in  the  region 
of  the  crushed  Hussite  rebellions;  but  in  those  regions 
next  to  the  countries  where  serfdom  had  obtained  least 
hold,  and  had  passed  av/ay ;  above  all,  in    ^,        .   ,    , 

'  .      i        .  •'   '  The  trail?  laid 

those  mountain  regions  where  the  traditions  out  where  s^rf- 

of  ancient  freedom  had  lived  the  longest.  w'orst7bu? 

where  the  spirit  of  the  people  was  least  sub-  ^ns  ncan."t"in 

-dued,  and  where  the  close  neighbourhood  of  s'g^t. 


68  The  Protestant  Revolution.  pt.  il. 

their  fellow  mountaineers  of  Switzerland  kept  an  exam- 
ple of  successful  rebellion  ever  before  their  eyes.  We 
may  see  in  this  way  most  clearly  how  these  peasants' 
rebellions  were  not  isolated  phenomena,  but  parts  of  a 
great  onward  movement  beginning  centuries  back, 
which  had  already  swept  over  England  and  France,  and 
freed  the  peasants  there,  and  now,  in  this  era,  had  Ger- 
many to  grapple  with.  Whether  it  was  destined  to  be 
at  once  successful  or  not  we  shall  see  in  this  history,  but 
we  may  be  sure  it  was  destined  to  conquer  some  day, 
because  we  cannot  fail  to  recognize  in  it  one  Gi'"thc  waves 
of  the  advancing  tide  of  modern  civilization. 


PART    II. 
THE  PROTESTANT  REVOLUTION. 


CHAPTER   I. 

REVIVAL  OF  LEARNING  AND  REFORM  AT  FLORENCE. 

[a)  The  Revivers  of  Learning  at  Florenee. 
The  story  we  have  now  to  tell  begins  at  Florence. 
Florence,  as  we  have  already  noted,  was  a  republic,  but 
The  Republic  differing  from  other  Italian  republics  in  this : 
of  Florence.  ^^i^^  while  in  Others  the  nobles  held  power, 
here  in  Florence,  for  some  generations,  the  nobles  had 
been  dethroned.  The  people  had  got  the  rule  into  their 
own  hands  ;  and  so  far  had  they  carried  their  distrust 
of  the  nobles,  that  no  noble  could  hold  office  in  the  city 
unless  he  first  enrolled  himself  as  a  simple  citizen.  Flor- 
ence had  long  been  a  great  commercial  city,  and  the  pub- 
lic spirit  of  her  citizens  had  helped  to  make  her  prosper- 


CH.   I.         Revival  and  Reform  at  Florence.  6g 

oiis.  Never  had  she  been  more  prosperous  than  in  the 
early  days  of  her  democracy.  But  every  now  and  then 
there  were  troubled  times  ;  and  in  such  times,  more  than 
once  or  twice,  a  dictator  had  been  chosen.  Sometimes 
even  a  foreign  prince  had  been  made  dicta-    „        .    , 

°      ^  A      1  1       Power  in  the 

tor  for  a  stated  number  of  years.     At  length   hands  of  the 
power  had  fallen   into    the   hands   of  the 
wealthier  families  of  citizens,  and  the  chief  of  these  was 
the  family  of  the  Medici. 

Cosmo  de'  Medici  was  for  many  years  dictator.  His 
great  wealth,  gained  by  commerce,  placed  him  in  the 
position  of  a  merchant  prince.  His  virtues,  cosmo, 
and  patronage  of  learned  men  and  the  arts,  1389-1464- 
made  him  popular ;  and  his  popularity  paved  the  way 
for  the  proud  position  held  by  his  grandson,  '  Lorenzo 
the  Magnificent.' 

Lorenzo  de'  Medici  (of  whose  times  we  are  to  speak) 
had  followed  in  Cosmo's  footsteps,  and  had  got  into  his 
single  hand  the  reins  of  the  state.     He  had    ^  ,  , 

°  .  .       Lorenzo  de 

set  aside  the  double  council  of  elected  citi-  Medici, 
zens,  and  now  ruled  through  a  council  of  ^'**  '"* 
seventy  men  chosen  by  himself.  His  court  was  the 
most  brilliant  and  polished  of  his  time,  but  in  the  back- 
ground of  his  magnificence  there  was  always  this  dark 
shadow — he  held  his  high  place  at  the  expense  of  the 
liberties  of  the  people  of  Florence. 

There  was,  however,  much  in  his  rule  to  flatter  the 
pride  of  the  Florentines. 

Under  the  Medici,  Florence  had  become  the  '  Modern 
Athens.'      Their  genius  and  wealth  had   filled    it  with 
pictures  and  statues,  and  made  it  the  home    pig^^.^ce  the 
of  artists  and  sculptors.     At  this  very  mo-   Mudcm 

,  ,  .        Alheas. 

ment,  in  Lorenzo  s  palace  and  under  his 
patronage,  was  young  Michael  Angela,  ere  long  to  be  the 


70  The  Protcstatit  Revolution.  pt.  ii. 

greatest  sculptor  and  one  of  the  greatest  painters  of  Italy, 
Michael  Learning  also,  as  well  as  art,  had  found  a 

Angelo.  home  at  Florence.     The  taking  of  Constan- 

tinople by  the  Turks  having  driven  learned  men  into 
Italy,  here  at  Florence,  and  elsewhere  in  Italy,  the 
philosophy  of  Plato  was  taught  by  men  whose  native 
The  Platonic  tongue  was  Greek.  Cosmo  de'  Medici 
Academy.  founded  the  '  Platonic  Academy;  and  Fi- 
Ficino.  ciiio,  who  was  now  at  the  head  of  it,  had 

been  trained  up  under  his  patronage. 

Politiaii  (Poliziano),  the  most  brilliant  and  polished 
Latin  poet  of  the  day,  was  always  at  the  palace,  directing 
^  ,  the  studies  of  Lorenzo's  children,  and  ex- 

Pohtian,  .  .  .  ,    ,  J  1     J  • 

1454-1494 ;  changmg  Greek  epigrams  with  learned  ladies 
deiia  M?ran-      of  the  court.     To  this  galaxy  of  distinguished 

"^°1^'  men  had  recently  been  added  the  beautiful 

1403-1494.  ^  •' 

young  prince,  Pico  delta  Mirandola,  regarded 
as  the  greatest  linguist  and  most  precocious  genius  of 
the  age.  At  twenty-three  he  had  challenged  all  the 
learned  men  of  Europe  to  dispute  with  him  at  Rome ; 
and  some  of  the  opinions  he  advanced  being  charged 
with  heresy,  he  had  taken  refuge  at  the  court  of  Lorenzo, 
who  gave  him  a  villa  near  his  own  and  Politian's,  on  the 
slope  of  the  mountain  overlooking  the  rich  valley  of  the 
Arno  and  the  domes  and  tovrers  of  Florence.  What 
these  three  friends — Ficino  the  Platonist,  Politian  the 
poet,  and  Pico,  their  young  and  brilliant  companion — 
were  to  each  other,  let  this  little  letter  picture  to  us. 
Politian  writes  to  Ficino,  and  asks  him  to  come. 

'  My  little  villa  is  very  secluded,  it  being  embosomed  among 
woods,  but  in  some  directions  it  may  be  said  to  overlook  all 
Florence.  Here  Pico  often  steals  in  upon  me  unexpectedly  from 
his  grove  of  oaks,  and  draws  me  away  with  him  from  my  hiding- 
place  to  partake  of  one  of  his  pleasant  suppers — temperate,  as  you 


CH.  I.         Revival  and  Reform  at  Florence.  71 

know  well,  and  brief,  but  always  seasoned  with  delightful  talk  and 
wit.  You  will,  perhaps,  like  better  to  come  to  me,  where  your  fare 
will  not  be  worse,  and  your  wine  better — for  in  that  I  may  venture 
to  vie  even  with  Pico." 

Add  to  this  picture  the  briUiance  of  Lorenzo's  court, 
and  what  a  fascinating  picture  it  is  ! 

This  little  knot  of  men  at  Florence,  and  others  in  Italy, 
were  at  work  at  what  is  called  the  '  Revival  of  Learning.' 
These  revivers  of  learning  are  often  spoken  ^j^^  Revival 
of  as  '  the  Humanists i'  They  were  dig-  °^  Learning, 
ging  up  again,  and  publishing,  by  means  of  the  print- 
ing-press, the  works  of  the  old  Greek  and  Latin  writers, 
and  they  found  in  them  something  to  their  taste  much 
more  true  and  pure  than  the  literature  of  the  middle 
ages.  After  reading  the  pure  Latin  of  the  classical 
writers  they  were  disgusted  with  the  bad  Latin  of  the 
monks ;  after  studying  Plato  they  were  disgusted  with 
scholastic  philosophy.  Such  was  the  rottenness  of  Rome 
that  they  found  in  the  high  aspirations  of  Plato  after 
spiritual  truth  and  immortality  a  religion  which  seemed 
to  them  purer  than  the  grotesque  form   of    „     . 

'  .  0-1  Semi-pagan 

Christianity  which  Rome  held  out  to  them,    tendencies 
They  could  flatter  the  profligate  Pope  as  all    revival  of 
but  divine  in  such  words  as  '  Sing  unto  Six-   ''=^''"'"8- 
tus  a  new  song,'  but  in  their  hearts  some  of  them  scofied, 
and  doubted  whether  Christianity  be  true  and  whether 
there  is  a  life  after  death  for  mankind. 

(b)    The  great  Florentine  Refortner,   Girolamo 
Savonarola. 
These  were  the  revivers  of  learning.     But  suddenly 
there  arose  amongst  them  quite  another  kind  of  man — -a 
religious   Reformer.     He  came  like  a  shell    ^.   , 

,  .  Girolamo  Sa- 

m  the  midst  of  tinder,  and  it  burst  m  the  vonarola,  145a 
midst  of  the  Platonic  Academy.     The  name     '''^  ' 


72  The  Protestant  Revolution.  PT.  ll. 

of  this  Florentine  Reformer  was  Girolamo  Savonarola. 
He  too  was  a  learned  man,  meant  by  his  father  to  be  a 
doctor,  but  being  of  a  religious  turn  of  mind  he  had 
chosen  to  become  a  monk.  Finding  from  study  of  the 
Scriptures  how  much  both  the  Church  and 

Becomes  a  re-  ^ 

ligious  re-  the  world  needed  reform,  he  became  a  Re- 

former. In  i486  he  commenced  preaching 
against  the  vices  of  popes,  cardinals,  priests  and  monks, 
the  tyranny  of  princes,  and  the  bad  morals  of  the  peo- 
ple, calling  loudly  for  repentance  and  reformation.  In 
1487  he  preached  at  Reggio.  There  young  Pico  heard 
him,  and,  taken  by  his  eloquence,  invited  him  to  Flor- 
ence. In  1490  he  came  to  the  convent  of  St.  Mark, 
which  was  under  the  patronage  of  the  Medici.  Crowds 
came  to  hear  him ;  shopkeepers  shut  up  their  shops 
-,  ,       .      .    while  he  was  preaching.     He  became  the 

Made  prior  of     _  r  o 

St.  Mark  at  idol  of  the  people.  In  1491  he  was  made 
Prior  of  San  Marco,  and  when  asked  to  do 
customary  homage  to  the  patron  for  this  high  appoint- 
ment he  refused,  saying  '  he  owed  it  to  God,  and  not  to 
Lorenzo  de'  Medici !  ' 

Innocent  VIII.  had  now  succeed  Sixtus  IV.  as  Pope, 
and  his  natural  son  had  married  Lorenzo's  daughter. 
The  Pope  in  return  had  made  Lorenzo's  son  John  (after- 
wards Leo  X.),  a  boy  of  thirteen,  a  cardinal!  When 
Savonarola  thundered  against  ecclesiastical  scandals  and 
the  vices  of  the  Pope,  Lorenzo  naturally  did  not  like  it. 
He  sent  messages  to  the  preacher,  exhorting  him  to  use 
discretion.  '  Entreat  him,*  replied  the  Reformer,  '  in  my 
name,  to  repent  of  his  errors,  for  calamities  from  on  high 
impend  over  him  and  his  family.'  The  bold  Reformer 
Stirs  up  in  the  Went  on  with his  preaching,  denouncing  judg- 
spmt'^of  reform  JTicnts  upou  Italy  and  Rome.  A  marked  im- 
and  freedom,      pression  was  soon  visible  in  the  morals  of  the 


CH.  I.         Revival  and  Reform  at  Florence.  73 

people  of  Florence.  More  and  more  he  became  their 
natural  leader.  Lorenzo  tried  to  keep  himself  popular  by 
fetes  and  magnificent  festivals.  But  gradually  influen- 
tial citizens,  who  still  longed  for  the  old  republic  and 
ancient  liberty,  attached  themselves  to  Savonarola.     In 

1492  Lorenzo  de'  Medici  died.      The    Re-    Death  of 
former  had  been  sent  for,  and  was  with  him    Lorenzo  and 
at  his  death.     It  was  rumoured  that  he  demanded  of  the 
dying  man,  as  a  condition  of  absolution,  that  he  should 
restore  to   Florence   her   ancient   liberties.    ^  ,„^, 

Innocent  VIII. 

This  year  Innocent  VIII.  too  died;  and  m 

1493  the  wicked  reign  of  Alexander  VI.  and  his  son 
Caesar  Borgia  began.  While  they  were  plotting  to  bring 
over  Charles  VIII.  of  France  to  scourge  Italy,  Savona- 
rola mixed  up  with  his  denunciations  against  the  evils 
of  the  times  prophecies  of  impending  woes  upon  Flor- 
ence.   Then  came  the   armies  of  France  ;    The  French 

..-,,.  ,  I        T-  T_  J     invasion. 

friendly  relations  between  the  v  rencn  and    The  iMedici 
the  Florentines  ;  the  expulsion  of  the  Medici,    ^c^P.^bHcVe^''^ 
by  their  aid,  from  Florence ;  the  formation    stored, 
of  a  republic,  under  the  advice  of  Savonarola.     He  de- 
dined  to  hold  any  office,  but  his  spirit  ruled  supreme. 
Convents  were  reformed,  and  the  study  of  the  Bible  in 
the   original  language  made  a  part  of  the    Savonarola's 
duty  of  the  monks.     Schools  for  the  cduca-   ^'^'■''""=^- 
tion  of  the  children   of  the  people  were  founded ;  and 
Savonarola  went  on  with  his  preaching,  denouncing  the 
wickedness  of  the  Church  and  demanding  reform. 

In  1495  Pope  Alexander  VI.  thought  it  was  time  to 
stop  so  dangerous  a  preacher.  He  cited  him  to  Rome, 
but  the  people  would  not  let  him  go.  He  offered  to  make 
him  a  cardinal  as  the  price  of  his  loyalty  to  Rome, 
but  he  publicly  replied  that  the  only  red  hat  to  whicli  h  j 
aspired  was  one  red  in  the  blood  of  his  own  martyrdom. 


74  The  Protestant  Revolution.  pt.  il. 

Had  Savonarola  died  in  1495,  his  name  would  have 

gone  down  to   posterity  as  that  of  a  reformer  singularly 

zealous,  noble,  patriotic,  judicious,  and  practical  in  his 

aims  and  conduct.     But  men  are  not  perfect. 

He  becomes  ,  ,        .      .  y        r  i 

ianatical.  The  zealous  bram  is  apt  to  take  nre,  and  en- 

thusiasm is  apt  to  become  fanatical.  So  it 
was  with  Savonarola.  Both  he  and  the  people  gave  way 
to  excitement.  When  the  time  of  Carnival  came,  they 
dragged  their  trinkets,  pictures,  immoral  books,  vanities 
of  all  kinds,  into  the  public  square,  and  made  a  great 
bonfire  of  them.  The  excitement  of  the  people  reacted 
on  the  prophet  who  had  raised  it.  In  his  later  years  (he 
lived  only  to  the  age  of  forty-seven),  he  prophesied  more 
wildly  than  ever,  thought  he  saw  visions,  and  did  fanati- 
cal things  which  marked  a  brain  fevered  and  unbalanced. 
Be  it  so ;  we  are  not  therefore  to  forget  to  pay  homage  to 
the  man  who,  even  in  these  later  years,  was  bold  enough 
to  put  the  Borgian  Pope  to  well-merited  shame,  and  to 
denounce  his  vices,  regardless  alike  of  his  bribes  or  his 
threats.  That  the  Pope  was  powerful  enough  at  length 
to  put  him  to  silence  by  imprisonment,  to  make  him  con- 
fess his  heresies  by  torture,  and  on  his  return  to  them 
when  the  torture  was  removed,  to  silence  him  for  ever  by 
a  cruel  death,  did  but  cast  the  halo  of  martyrdom  around 
his  heroism  and  make  his  name  immortal. 

Is  martyred  by  ,11,  1  t^, 

order  of  the  He  was  Strangled  and  burned  at  Florence 
Alexander  vi.  ^Y  Order  of  the  Pope  in  1498 — by  order  of  that 
Pope  who  had  himself  committed  murder 
and  sacrilege  and  unheard-of-crimes,  and  who  five  years 
after  died  of  the  poison  prepared,  as  was  said,  for  another ! 

[c]  Savonarola  s  hifliumce  oji  the  Revivers  of  Learning. 

Lorenzo  had  died  in  1492,  and  Savonarola,  as  we  have 
said,  was  present  at  his  death-bed.     Pico,  who  had  in- 


CH.  I.  Revival  a?zd  Reform  at  Florence.  75 

vited  him  to  Florence,  became  a  devout  dis-    „.  .  „ 

His  innuence 

ciple  of  Savonarola,  and  after  three  years  of  over  Pico. 
pure  and  childlike  piety,  remarkably  free  Ficino.  ' 
from  fanaticism,  died  in  1495.  Just  as  Charles 
VIII.  was  entering  Florence,  Pico  was  buried  in  the 
robes  of  Savonarola's  order  and  in  the  church  of  St. 
Mark.  Politian  died  in  the  same  year;  he,  too,  desired 
to  be  buried  in  the  robes  of  Savonarola's  order,  Ficino 
was  carried  away  by  the  preaching  of  the  Reformer  for  a 
while,  but  was  disgusted  with  the  fanaticism  of  his  later 
years.  He  died  a  Platonist,  hardly  sure  whether  Chris- 
tianity be  true  or  not,  and  this  characteristic  story  is  told 
about  his  death.  He  and  a  friend  made  a  solemn  bar- 
gain with  each  other  that  whichever  died  first  should,  if 
possible,  appear  to  the  other  and  tell  him  whether  indeed 
there  be  a  life  after  death.  Ficino  died  first,  and  is  said 
toiiave  appeared  to  his  friend,  exclaiming,  '  Oh  !  Michael ! 
Michael !  it  is  all  true !'  Whether  the  story  be  true  or 
not,  it  shows  exactly  the  state  of  mind  the  Neo-Platonist 
philosophers  were  in. 

(^)  Nlccolo  Machiavelli. 
For  some  time  after  Savonarola's  death   Florence  was 
governed  by  a  Council  of  Ten,  by  whom  was  chosen  as 
Secretary  of  State  one  of  the  most  remark-  ^^ 

able  men  of  the  time,  Nlccolo  Machiavelli,  chiavelli 
the  historian  from  whose  writings  we  have  '  '^^^' 
several  times  quoted.  He  was,  perhaps,  the  keenest 
diplomatist  that  ever  lived.  Schooled  in  the  lying  poli- 
tics of  Italy,  while  C^sar  Borgia  and  Alexander  VI. 
were  plotting  and  counter-plotting  with  all  the  States  of 
Italy  and  Europe,  he  conducted  the  foreign  diplomacy 
of  the  Republic  of  Florence  till  1512,  when  under  Julius 
II.  the  French  were  driven  out  of  Italy  and  the  sons  of 


76  The  Protestant  Revolution.  pt.  ii. 

Lorenzo  de'  Medici  re-established  in  power.  The  Flo- 
rentines then  lost  their  freedom  of  self-government  for 
ever,  and  Machiavelli  found  himself  an  exile.  In  the 
retirement  of  a  hidden  country  life  he  wrote  his  great 
rTT.   T>  •      .    work,  'The  Prince.'     Its  object  was  to  win 

ihe  Frince.  ■' 

a  way  back  for  its  author  to  political  life  by 
convincing  the  Medici  that  though  he  had  served  under 
their  enemies,  he  could  do  them  service  if  they  em- 
ployed him.  It  answered  its  purpose.  Written  in  a 
wicked,  lying  age,  '  The  Prince '  reflected  its  vices.  Its 
author  made  no  pretence  of  a  higher  virtue  than  Borgias 
and  Medici  would  appreciate.  He  did  not  scruple  to 
advocate  lying  whenever  it  would  pay  ;  force  and  fraud 
whenever  it  would  succeed;  tyranny,  if  needful  to  keep 
a  tyrant  on  his  throne ;  murder  and  bloodshed  as  a 
means  of  obtaining  an  end.  This  was  what  professedly 
Christian  popes  had  been  doing  of  late.  Machiavelli  by 
putting  these  maxims  into  a  scientific  form  in  '  The 
Prince  '  did  but  give  them  a  sort  of  personality.  He  be- 
came, as  it  were,  the  demon  of  politics,  and  the  unchris- 
tian policy  of  the  times  became  known  to  after  ages  as 
'  Machiavellian.' 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE   OXFORD   REFORMERS. 


(a)  The  Spirit  of  Revival  of  Lcarnitig  and  Reform  is 
carried fro7n  Italy  to  Oxford. 
There  were,  as  we  have  seen,  two  distinct  movements 
at  Florence  in  favour  (i"^  of  the  Revival  of  Learning; 
and  (2)  of  Religiotis  Reform.  The  distinction  and  also 
the  connexion  between  these  movements  must  be  marked 
with  care. 


CH.   II.  The  Oxford  Reformers.  77 

The  revival  of  the  old  classical  Latin  and    Distinction 

and  con- 
Greek  authors,  by  making  men  prefer  Plato    nexion  be- 
to  the  schoolmen  dealt  a  blow  at  the  scho-    vTv^al"of  ^' 
lastic  system,  and  even  tended  towards  a   Rg^i^us^""^ 
rejection  of  Christianity.  reform. 

The  spirit  of  religious  reform  was,  on  the  other  hand, 
a  revival  of  earnest  Christian  feeling  against  the  scandals 
of  the  Church  and  the  irreligion  of  the  age.  It  was  in 
some  sense  caused  by  the  revival  of  learning,  for 
am'ongst  the  ancient  literature  whicli  was  revived  were 
the  Scriptures  and  the  works  of  the  early  Church  fathers ; 
and  the  study  of  these  in  their  original  Ian-    „   , 

•'  ^  Both  against 

guages  opened  men's  minds  to  the  need  of    the  Schoias- 
reform.     It  also  set  them  against  the  scho-     "^^>^*^ 
lastic  theology,  and  so  it  came  to  pass  that  the  spirit  of 
religious  reform  in  its  turn  dealt   a   blow  against  the 
scholastic  system. 

When  the  spirit  which  sought  the  revival  of  learning 
joined  itself  with  that  of  religious  reform,  it  produced 
reformers  who  aimed  at  freeing  men's  minds  from  the 
bonds  of  the  scholastic  system,  at  setting  up  Christ  and 
his  apostles  instead  of  the  schoolmen  as  the  exponents 
of  what  Christianity  really  is,  and  lastly  at  making  real 
Christianity  and  its  golden  rule  the  guide  for  men  and 
nations,  and  so  the  basis  of  the  civilization  of  the 
future. 

So  to  some  extent  it  had  been  in  Italy.  The  revival 
of  learning  had  produced,  not  only  the  Platonic  Academy, 
but  also  the  great  Florentine  Reformer;  and  Savonarola, 
with  his  fiery  religious  zeal,  had  been  more  than  a  match 
for  the  pagan  tendencies  of  the  Platonic  Academy.  Pico 
especially,  and  in  part  Ficino,  had  united  religious  feel- 
ings with  a  love  of  the  Platonic  philosophy.  Savonarola 
hi.nsclf  had  united  a  love  of  letters  and  zeal  for  cduration 


78  The  Protestant  Revolution.  pt.  ii. 

The  move-  'v^'\'(^  his  Spirit  of  religious  reform.  But  the 
ment  crushed     rnovemcnt  at  Florence  was  now  thoroughly 

at  Florence.  r        • 

crushed.  We  must  look  elsewhere  for  its 
further  development  till  it  becomes  a  power  all  over 
Europe. 

As  in  the  fourteenth  century  the  movement  begun  by 
Wiclif  in  England  was  carried  into  Bohemia  by  the  inter- 
Revivers  at  change  of  students  between  the  Universities 
Oxford.  Q^  Oxford  and  Prague,  so  this  movement, 

begun  in  Italy,  was  soon  carried  by  students  from  Flo- 
rence to  Oxford,  and  from  thence  it  took  a  fresh  start. 

During    the    lifetime   of    Lorenzo  de'  Medici  several 

Oxford    students,    amongst    whom   were     Grocyn    and 

Linacre,  went  to  complete  their  studies  in 

Grocyn  and  .  ^ 

Linacre  go  Italy.  Linacre  was  made  tutor  or  fellow- 
return'to^"  Student  of  Lorenzo's  own  children  (one  of 
Oxford.  whom  was  afterwards  Pope  Leo  X.).     They 

returned  to  Oxford  to  revive  there  the  study  of  the  Greek 
language  and  literature.  Linacre  afterwards  became  tu- 
tor to  Arthur  Prince  of  Wales,  and  physician  to  Henry  VII. 
Another  Oxford  student — Jolin  Colet — went  to  Italy 
after  Lorenzo's  death  and  the  French  invasion  of  Italy, 
^  ,    ^,  ,  and  while  Savonarola  was  virtually  head  of 

John  Colet  _  -^ 

does  the  the   Republic   at   Florence,   also  while   the 

Colet  unites  scandals  of  Rome's  worst  Pope,  Alexander 

the  new"  °  VI.,  and  Caesar  Borgia,  were  in  everyone's 

learning  and  mouth.     He  caught  the  spirit,  not  only  of 

religious  re-  . 

form.  the  revival  of  learning,  but  also  of  religious 

reform,  and,  combining  the  two,  became  on 
his  return  to  Oxford  the  beginner  of  a  movement  at  Ox- 
ford which  was  to  influence  Europe. 

[b)    yohfi   Colet,  Erasmus,  and  TJtonias  More. 
John  Colet  was   son  of  a  lord  mayor  of  London,  and 


CH.   II.  The  Oxford  Reformers.  79 

likely  to  succeed  to  his  father's  fortune.  His  earnest 
religious  spirit  made  him  wish  to  enter  the  Church.  In 
Italy  he  studied  the  writings  of  Pico  and  Ficino  and 
Plato,  and  above  all  the  Bible,  and  returned  to  Oxford 
full  of  zeal  for  the  new  learning  and  for  reform. 

He  at  once  began  to  lecture  at  Oxford  on  St.  Paul's 
Epistles,  trying  to  find  out  Avhat  they  meant  in  the  same 
common  sense  way  that  men  would  use  to  understand 
letters  written  by  a  living  man  to  his  friends ;    Lectures  on 
not  asking  what  the  learned  schoolmen  had    ^'-.Pf"''^ 

°  tpistles  at 

decided  that  they  meant,  but  giving  the  Oxford. 
schoolmen  the  go  by  (quoting  Plato  and  Pico  and  Ficino 
more  often  than  them),  and  so  giving  the  Epistles  a  life- 
like power,  interest,  and  freshness  quite  new  to  his 
hearers.  By  so  doing  he  hoped  to  set  men's  minds  free 
from  the  scholastic  system,  to  make  them  inquire  into 
facts  for  themselves,  and  drink  in  at  first  hand  the  teach- 
ings of  the  Apostle. 

For  generations  men  had  become  monks  and  clergy- 
men without  even  reading  the  New  Testament.  Colct 
found  theological  students  poring  over  the  books  of  the 
schoolmen.  His  lectures  were  the  beginning  of  a  work 
which  went  on  till  it  quite  revolutionized  the  Attacks  the 
theological  teaching  of  the  University.  For-  schoolmen. 
ty  years  after,  people  found  the  books  of  the  schoolmen 
set  aside  as  useless,  and  their  torn  leaves  strung  up  by 
the  corner  as  waste  paper. 

Colet  had  seen  in  Italy  how  much  the  ecclesiastical  as 
well  as  the  scholastic  system  needed  reform  ;  and  so  in 
his  lectures  at  Oxford  he  zealously  urged  the    He  urges 
necessity  of  a  reform  in  the  morals  of  the   ^^f°  ''!'=  ?'=^'^ 

^  of  ccclcsi- 

clergy.     He  urged  that  it  was  ecclesiastical    a-stical  re- 
scandals  and  the  wicked  worldly  living  of 
the  clergy,  the  way  they  mixed  themselves  up  with  poli- 


8o  Tlic  Protestant  Revolution.  pt.  ii. 

tics,  and  strove  after  power  and  money  and  pleasure, 
which  set  men  against  the  Church,  'Whereas,'  he  said, 
'  if  the  clergy  lived  in  the  love  of  God  and  their  neigh- 
'  hours,  how  soon  would  then  true  piety,  religion,  charity, 
'goodness  towards  men,  simplicity,  patience,  tolerance 
'  of  evil,  conquer  evil  with  good !  How  would  it  stir  up 
'the  minds  of  men  everywhere  to  think  well  of  the 
'  Church  of  Christ.' 

He  had  seen  how  wicked  the  Popes  and  cardinals  of 
Rome  were  ;  and  so  now,  at  Oxford,  he  burst  out  into 
hot  words,  written,  as  he  said,  'with  grief  and  tears,' 
against  ecclesiastical  wickedness  in  high  places.  He 
spoke  of  the  Popes  as  'wickedly  distilling  poison,  to  the 
'  destruction  of  the  Church.'  Unless  there  could  be  a 
reform  of  the  clergy,  from  the  Pope  at  the  head  down  to 
the  monks  and  the  clergymen,  he  saw  no  chance  of 
saving  the  Church.  '  Oh,  Jesu  Christ,  wash  for  us  not 
'our  feet  only,  but  also  our  hands  and  our  head/  Other- 
'wise  our  disordered  Church  cannot  be  far  from  death." 

A  man  so  earnest  was  sure  to  make  disciples.  Stu- 
dents burdened  by  scholastic  arguments  came  to  him, 
He  attracts  ^"d  gladly  accepted  his  advice  to 'keep  to 
disciples  ^Y\Q  Bible  and  the  Apostles'  Creed,  letting 

divines,  if  they  like,  dispute  about  the  rest.'  They  fol- 
lowed him  from  his  lectures  to  his  chambers,  and  im- 
bibed his  love  for  St.  Paul ;  and  along  with  the  new 
learning,  he  stirred  up  in  them  that  real  religion  which 
consists  in  the  love  of  God  and  one's  neighbour,  and 
gives  men  a  new  power  and  ruling  motive  in  life. 

Two  men  especially  so  came  within  his  influence  as  to 
join  themselves  with  him  in  fellow-work  ;  and  it  was  by 
and  fellow-  their  means  that  it  became,  in  a  way  in 
workers.  which  Colct  alone  never  could  have  made 

it,  a  power  all  over  Europe. 


CH.   II.  The  Oxford  Rcfonut'rs.  8i 

One  of  them  was  Thomas  (afterwards  Sir  Thomas, 
and  Lord  Chancellor)  More,  a  young  man,  ten  years 
Colct's  junior,  but  so  earnest,  so  full  of  wit    ^, 

Thomas  More. 

and  genius,  and  withal  so  good-natured 
and  fascinating,  that  those  who  knew  him  fell  in  love 
with  him.  He  had  caught  at  Oxford  the  love  of  the  new 
learning  which  Grocyn  and  Linacre  had  brought  from 
Italy ;  and,  as  we  shall  see  by-and-by,  became  a  hearty 
fellow-worker  with  Colet.  Rising  by  his  talents  to  posts 
of  high  influence  in  the  state,  he  became  one  of  the  most 
prominent  figures  in  English  history  during  this  era. 

The  other  fellow-worker  was  the  afterwards  famous 
Erasmus.  He  was  an  orphan,  and  poor.  Thrust,  when  a 
youth,  into  a  monastery  by  dishonest  guar- 
dians,  who  had  tried  to  force  him  to  become 
a  monk  in  order  to  get  his  little  stock  of  money,  he 
rebelled  when  he  came  of  age,  left  the  monastery,  and, 
in   spite  of  poverty,  earning  his  living  by    Early  life  of 
giving  lessons  to  private  pupils,  worked  his    Erasmus. 
way  up  to  such  learning  as  the  University  of  Paris  could 
give.     Wanting  to  master  Greek,  and  too  poor  to  go  to 
Italy,  he  came,  at  the  invitation  of  an  English  nobleman, 
to  learn  it  at  Oxford.    He  was  just  turned  thirty  (the  same 
age  as  Colet),  but  already  hard  study,  bad  lodging,  and 
the  harassing  life  of  a  poor  student,  driven  about  and  ill- 
used  as  he  had  been,  had  ruined  his  health.    His  mental 
energy  rose,  however,  above  bodily  weak-    jjg  comes  to 
ness,  and  he  came  to  Oxford,  eager  for  work,    Oxford, 
and  perhaps  for  fame.     He  found  the  little    Makes  friends 
circle  of  Oxford  students  zealous  for  the  new    and  Thomas 
learning  and  those  Greek  studies  on  which  his    ^'^'''"^' 
own  mind  was  bent.    He  became  known  at  once  to  Colet, 
Grocyn,  and  Linacre,  and  fell  in  love  with  More.     His 
own  words  will  best  describe  what  he  thought  of  them. 

G 


82  The  Protestant  Revolution.  pt.  ii. 

'When'  (he  wrote  in  a  letter)  'I  listen  to  my  friend 
'Colet,  it  seems  to  me  like  listening  to  Plato  himself.  In 
'  Grocyn,  who  does  not  admire  the  wide  range  of  his  know- 
'  ledge  ?  What  could  be  more  searching,  deep,  and  re- 
'  fined  than  the  judgment  of  Zzwa^rr^".?  Whenever  did 
'nature  mould  a  character  more  gentle,  endearing,  and 
'happy  than  Tlionias  Marcs? 

During  the  time  he  spent  at  Oxford,  he  had  many 
talks  and  discussions  with  Colet.  He  had  come  to  Ox- 
ford full  of  the  spirit  of  the  revival  of  learning,  but  not 
yet  hating  the  scholastic  system  as  Colet  did, 

Comes  under        jo  j 

Coiet's  influ-  nor  ready  at  once  to  take  to  Colet's  views  on 
the  need  of  reform.  He  had  not  yet  got  the 
religious  earnestness  which  made  Colet  what  he  was. 
But  Colet's  fervour  was  infectious;  and  before  Erasmus 
left  Oxford,  he  saw  clearly  what  a  great  work  Colet  had 
begun. 

Colet  urged  him  to  stay  at  Oxford,  and  at  once  to  join 
him  in  his  work;  but  Erasmus  said  he  was  not  ready — 
he  must  first  go  to  Italy  to  study  Greek,  as  others  had 
done.  But,  he  said,  '  When  I  feel  that  I  have  the  need- 
ful firmness  and  strength,  I  will  join  you.'  How  effec- 
tually he  did  aid  him  afterwards  we  shall  presently  see. 

(r)    7"//!?  Oxford  students  are  scattered  till  the  accession 
of  Henry  VIII.  (i  500-1 509). 
During   the  remainder  of  the  reign   of  Henry  VII. 
^,     ,  (nine  years  or  thereabouts),  the  little  band 

The  three  \.  ^    ^      ,  ,  , 

friends  scat-       of  Oxford  students  was  scattered. 

Erasmus  left  England  in  1500  for  France, 

on  his  way  for  Italy ;  but  being  robbed  of  his  money  by 

the  custom-house  officers  at  Dover,  he  was  obliged  by 

poverty  to  stay  in  France  instead  of  going  to  Italy. 

Colet  went  on  with  his  work  at  Oxford  as  earnestlv  as 


CH.  II.  The  Oxford  Reformers.  83 

ever,  till  lie  was  made  Dean  of  St.  Paul's,  and  removed 
to  London. 

More  worked  his  way  up  to  the  bar  in  London,  be- 
came popular  in  the  City,  and  very  early  in  life  went 
into  Parliament. 

The  last  years  of  Henry  VIL  were  marked  by  the 
discontent  occasioned  by  the  king's  avarice.    ^ 

Exactions  of 

His   two   mmisters,   Empson    and    Dudley     Empson  and 
tried  all  kinds  of  schemes  to  exact  money      "   ^^' 
from  the  people  withoi|t  breaking  the  laws. 

'  These  two  ravening  wolves '  (wrote  Hall  the  chroni- 
cler, who  lived  near  enough  to  the  time  to  feel  some  of 
the  exasperation  he  described)  'had  such  a  guard  of  false 
'perjured  persons  appertaining  to  them,  which  were  by 
'  their  commandment  empanelled  on  every  quest,  that  the 
'  king  was  sure  to  win,  whoever  lost.  Learned  men  in  the 
'  law,  when  they  were  required  of  their  advice,  would  say, 
'  "  To  agree  is  the  best  counsel  I  can  give  you."  By  this 
'undue  means  these  covetous  persons  filled  the  king's 
'  coffers  and  enriched  themselves.  At  this  unreasonable 
'  and  extortionate  doing  noblemen  grudged,  mean  men 
'  kicked,  poor  men  lamented ;  preachers  openly,  at  Paul's 
'Cross  and  other  places,  exclaimed,  rebuked,  and  de- 
' tested;  but  yet  they  would  never  amend.' 

The  robbing  of  Erasmus  at  the  Dover  custom-house 
was  an  instance  of  one  of  these  legal  robberies.  Thomas 
More  also  suffered  from  the  royal  avarice.    ., 

11  •        More 

He  was  bold  enough  to  speak  and  vote  m  offends 
Parliament  against  a  subsidy  which  he  ^'^"'^ 
thought  was  more  than  the  king  ought  to  claim.  Where- 
upon his  father  was  fined  on  some  legal  but  unjust  ex- 
cuse, and  he  himself  had  to  flee  into  retirement.  He 
thought  of  going  into  a  cloister,  and  becoming  a  monk ; 
but,  under  the  influence  of  Colet,  who  about  that  time 


S4  The  Protestant  Revolution.  pt.  ii. 

was  made  Dean  of  St.  Paul's,  and  came  to  live  in  Lon- 
.   ,  don,  he  married,  and  waited  for  better  days. 

1  he  circle  .      ■'  _ 

ofOxford  When  Erasmus  came  to  England  again  in 

formed  again  1505,  he  found  Colet,  More,  Grocyn,  Lin- 
in  London.  ^^^^^  ^^^  LjUy  (another  Oxford  student  who 
had  been  to  Italy),  all  living  in  London.  They  found 
him  the  necessary  means  for  his  journey  to  Italy,  and 
again  he  left  them,  promising  to  return,  and  hoping  then 
to  join  them  in  fellow -work. 

In  1509,  while  Erasmus  was  in  Italy,  Henry  VII.  died. 

(irf )   On  the  accession  of  Henry  VIII.  tJiey  commence 

their felloiv-'wo7-Jz  (1509). 
The  accession  of  Henry  VIII.  seemed  to  the  Oxford 
students  like  the  beginning  of  an  Augustan  age.     The 
other  sovereigns  of  Europe,  Maximilian  of 

Hopes  on  the  . 

accession  of  Germany,  Louis  XII.  of  France,  and  Ferdi- 
^""^^  ■  nand  of  Spain,  were  old  men,  and,  owing  to 
their  constant  wars,  poor.  Henry  VIII.  was  young  and, 
thanks  to  his  father's  peaceful  foreign  policy  and  unjust 
exactions,  rich.  He  was,  as  most  young  princes  are, 
popular;  every  one  hoped  good  things  from  him.  The 
imprisonment  and  execution  of  Empson  and  Dudley  re- 
lieved the  people  from  fear  of  further  exactions.  He  was 
handsome,  fond  of  athletic  sports,  and,  in  the  early 
years  of  his  reign,  it  must  be  admitted,  generous  and 
open-handed.  A  musician,  a  scholar,  and  (however  fond 
of  pleasure)  neglecting  neither  study  nor  business,  of 
great  energy  having  his  eye  everywhere  and  keeping  the 
reins  of  government  well  in  his  hands,  he  seemed  likely 
to  make  a  great  and  popular  king. 

By  the  little  band  of  Oxford  students  his  accession 
was  hailed  with  the  highest  hopes.  He  was  personally 
known  to  some  of  them,  and  known  to  be  a  friend  of  the 


CH.  II.  The   Oxford  Reformers.  85 

'new  learninjr.'     Colet    (already   Dean   of 

„^    „       ,,    ,         "^  \  •'  ,  The  Oxford 

bt.  Jr'aul  s)  was  soon  made  court  preacher,  studentsin 
Thomas  More,  to  the  delight  of  the  citizens  *^°""  ^^''°"''- 
of  London,  was  made  under-sheriff,  and  a  few  years 
afterwards,  such  was  the  fondness  of  the  king  for  him, 
that,  much  against  his  will,  he  was  drawn  into  the  court. 
Even  the  foreign  scholar  Erasmus  was  at  once  recalled 
from  Rome  and  settled  at  Cambridge  as  Greek  profes- 
sor.- There  seemed  now  to  be  an  open  door  for  Revival 
and  Reform,  and  all  in  the  sunshine  of  the  young  king's 
favour. 

{e)  Erasmus  writes  his  '  Praise  of  Folly '  ( 1 5  n ). 

Erasmus,  having  been  to  Italy,  was  now  ready  to  join 
Colet  heartily  in  fellow-work.  On  his  way  from  Italy  on 
horseback,  he  planned  in  his  mind,  and  on  his  arrival 
in  London,  before  going  to  Cambridge,  he  wrote  in 
More's  house,  his  '  Praise  of  Folly,'  a  satire  in  Latin  on 
the  follies  of  the  age,  which  made  his  name  famous 
among  the  scholars  of  Europe. 

He  dressed  up  Folly  in  her  cap  and  bells,  and  made 
her  deliver  an  oration  to  her  fellow-fools. 

Prominent  amongst  the  fellow-fools  were  the  scholastic 
theologians  whom  Colet  had  taught  him  to  dislike. 
'  Folly '  described  them  as  men  who  were  so    ^    . 

'  Satire  on  the 

proud  that  they  could  define  everything,  who  scholastic 
knew  all  about  things  of  which  St.  Paul  was  ^^" '^s'ji!'- 
ignorant,  could  talk  of  science  as  though  they  had  been 
consulted  when  the  world  was  made,  could  give  you  the 
dimensions  of  heaven  as  though  they  had  been  there  and 
measured  it  with  plumb  and  line — men  who  professed 
universal  knowledge,  and  yet  had  not  time  to  read  the 
Gospels  or  Epistles  of  St.  Paul. 

Mo7tks  were  described  as  shut  out  of  the  kingdom  of 


86  The  Protestant  Reiwlution.  pt.  ii. 

heaven  in  spite  of  their  cowls  and  their  ha- 
bits, while  wagoners  and  husbandmen  were 
admitted. 
'  Folly '   claimed  also  among  her  votaries  Popes  who 
(as  Julius  II.  was  then  doing),  instead  of  'leaving  all,' 
like  St.  Peter,  try  to  add  to  St.  Peter's  patri- 
mony, as  they  called  it,  fresh   possessions 
by  war,  and  turn  law,  religion,  peace,  and  all  human  af- 
fairs upside  down. 

This  bold  satire  did  much  to  open  the  eyes  of  men  all 
over  Europe  to  the  need  of  reform,  turned  the  ridicule 
of  the  world  upon  the  scholastic  theologians  and  monks, 
and  as  a  natural  consequence,  raised  against  Erasmus 
the  hatred  of  those  whose  follies  he  had  so  keenly  sa- 
tirized. 

This  little  book  written,  he  went  to  Cambridge  to  labour 
as  Greek  professor,  and  also  at  another  great  work  of 
which  we  shall  have  to  say  more  by-and-by — his  edition 
of  the  New  Testament. 


{/)    Colet  fomids  St.  PauVs  School. 

Colet,  meanwhile,  went  on  preaching  from  his  pulpit 
at  St.  Paul's.  On  his  father's  death  he  came  into  posses- 
Coiet  found-  ^^°"  °'^  ^^'^  fortune,  and  nobly  devoted  it  to 
school  of  the      the  foundation  of  a  public   school   by  the 

new  learning.  i       ,      ,       •  i  •    i     i  •  i       r   -i     ■ 

cathedral — in  which  boys,  mstead  of  being 
crammed  in  the  scholastic  learning,  were  to  be  trained 
in  the  new  learning,  and  instead  of  being  taught  the  bad 
Latin  of  the  monks,  were  to  be  taught  the  pure  Latin  and 
Greek  which  the  Oxford  students  had  imported  from 
Italy;  and  lastly,  instead  of  being  flogged  and  driven, 
were  to  be  attracted  and  gently  led  into  the  paths  of 
learninsf. 


LU.   11.  The   Oxford  Ref.rmcrs.  87 

Lilly  was  appointed  schoolmaster.  Erasmus  and  Lin- 
acre  were  set  to  work  to  write  school-books,  and  finding 
that  no  one  else  seemed  able  to  write  a  Latin  Grammar 
simple  and  easy  enough  for  beginners,  Colet  wrote  one 
himself.  In  his  preface  he  said  he  had  aimed,  for  the 
love  and  zeal  he  had  for  his  new  school,  at  making  his 
little  book  on  the  eight  parts  of  speech  as  easy  as  he 
could,  'judging  that  nothing  may  be  too  soft  nor  too  fa- 
miliar for  little  children,  specially  learning  a  tongue  unto 
them  all  strange,'  and  asking  them  to  'lift  up  their  little 
white  hands'  for  him,  in  return  for  his  prayers  for  them. 
Compare  with  these  gentle  words  the  practice  of  the 
common  run  of  schoolmasters  described  by  Erasmus, 
who,  too  ignorant  to  teach  their  scholars  properly,  had 
to  make  up  for  it  by  flogging  and  scolding,  defending 
their  cruelty  by  the  theory  that  it  was  the  schoolmaster's 
business  to  subdue  the  spirits  of  his  boys! 

When  it  was  noised  abroad  that  in  this  new  school  of 
the  Dean's,  classical  Latin  and  Greek  were  to  be  taught 
instead  of  the  bad  Latin  of  the  monks,  and  that  under  the 
shadow  of  St.  Paul's  cathedral  there  was  thus  to  be  a 
school  of  the  new  learning,  men  of  the  old  school  of 
thought  began  to  take  alarm.  More  had 
jokingly  told  Colet  that  it  would  be  so,  for  niaiic"of  meq 
he   said   the   school  was   like   the   wooden    "•"'heoid 

school. 

horse  filled  with  armed  Greeks  for  the  de- 
struction of  barbarian  Troy;  and  so  the  men  of  the  old 
school  regarded  it.     In  spite   of  the  inscription  on  the 
building — 

Schola  Catechizationis  Pueronim    in  Christi 

Opt.  Max.  fide  et  bonis  literis, 

— one  bishop  denounced  it  openly  as  a  'temple  of  ido- 
latry,' and  the  Bishop  of  London  began  to  contrive  how 


88  The  Protestant  Revolution.  pt.  ii. 

to  get  Colet  convicted  of  heresy,  and  so  a  stop  put  to  his 
work. 

About  this  time  there  was   a    convocation,  and    the 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury  gave  Colet  the  duty  of  preach- 
ing to  the  assembled  bishops  and  clergy  the 

Colet's  sermon  ■  tt  ,       i 

on  ecciesiasti-  openmg  sermon.  He  took  the  opportunity 
cal  reform.  q£  Urging,  in  the  strongest  and  most  earnest 
manner,  the  necessity  of  a  radical  reform  in  the  morals 
of  the  clergy.  He  told  them  to  their  face  boldly  that 
the  wicked  worldly  life  of  some  of  the  bishops  and  clergy 
was  far  worse  heresy  than  that  of  poor  Lollards,  twenty- 
three  of  whom  the  Bishop  of  London  had  just  been  com- 
pelling to  abjure,  and  two  of  whom  he  had  burned  in 
Smithfield  a  few  months  before. 

No  wonder  the  Bishop's  anger  was  kindled  still  more 

against  Colet.     He  and  two  other  bishops    of  the    old 

school  joined  in  laying  a  charge  of  heresy 

cha^e"o/°™*    against  him  before  the  Archbishop,  but  the 

heresy.  latter  wisely  would  not  listen  to  the  charge. 

So  the  cause  of  the  new  learning  prospered  during  the 
early  years  of  Henry  VIII. 

[g)  The  Continental  Wars  of  Henry  VIII.  1511-1312. 

If  we  look  back  to  the  section  on  Italy,  and  the  sum- 
mary there  given  of  Papal  and  Continental  politics,  we 
shall  see  that  it  was  in  151 1   and   1512  that  Pope  Julius 
II.  was  bent  upon  uniting  Spain,  England, 

The   Holy  Al-  }  ^       '  '  %        . 

liance  against  and  Germany  m  a  War  agamst  f  rance.  Louis 
France.  -j^jj^  -j^^^  ^^^  posscssion  of  Milan,  and  was 

becoming  dangerous.  The  Pope's  object  was  to  drive 
Louis  out  of  Italy.  Ferdinand  of  Spain  wanted  not  only 
to  get  rid  of  the  rivalship  of  France  in  Italy,  but  also  to 
annex  the  province  of  Navarre   to  Spain.     Henry  VIII. 


CH.    II. 


The  Oxford  Reformers. 


89 


FRENCH  PROVINCES  CLAIMED 
BY  HENRY  VIII. 


was  tempted  to  revive 

the  claims  of  England 

on  the  Duchy  of  Gui- 

enne,  which  since  the 

close   of  the  Hundred 

Years'  War  had  been 

annexed  to  the  French 

Crown.     The  Emperor 

Maximilian  was  always 

anxious  to  enlarge  his 

borders  at  the  expense 

of  France.      So    these 

princes    formed    what 

was  called  '  the  Holy 

Alliance,'     with     the 

Pope  at  their  head,  against  France,  and  in  1511  the  holy 

war  began.     The  campaign    of  that    year    ,,        ,,,,, 

*=■  .  .  Henry  VIII. 's 

ended  in  the  crafty  Ferdinand  getting  and   first  campaign, 
keeping  Navarre,  while  Henry  the  Eighth's 
invasion  of  Guicnne  miserably  failed.     His   troops  mu- 
tinied, and  returned  to  England  in  utter  disorder. 

In  the  spring  of  1513  preparations  were  being  made 
for  another  campaign  on  a  greater  scale.  It  was  in  these 
preparations  that  his  great  minister  Wol- 
sey's  great  talents  came  into  play.  Henry 
VIII.  had  set  his  heart  on  a  brilliant  invasion  of  France 
in  order  to  wipe  out  the  dishonour  of  the  last  campaign. 
He  watched  the  equipment  of  his  fleet,  and  ordered  Ad- 
miral Howard  to  tell  him  '  how  every  ship  did  sail.' 

Just  as  everything  was  ready  Julius  II.  died,  and  the 
Cardinal  de'  Medici,  Linacre's  fcUow-studcnt,  whose  ac- 
quaintance Erasmus  had  made  in  Italy,  was    ^  ,.     „ 

^  .  •'  Julius  II,  siic- 

elected  Pope  under  the  title  of  Leo  X.     The   cccdod  by  Leo 
new  Pope  cared  for  literature  and  art  and 


Wolsey. 


90  'The  Protestant  Revolution.  pr.  ii, 

building  St.  Peter's  at  Rome  more  than  for  war,  and  ex- 
pressed his  anxiety  to  bring  about  a  peace.  But  Henry 
„     ,,  VIII.  had  set  his  heart  upon  a  glorious  war. 

But  Henry  .  .  l"  fa  > 

persists  in  in-  and  in  spite  of  the  death  of  the  head  of  the 
ing  ranee,  j^^j^  Alliance,  and  in  spite  also  of  his 
father-in-law  Ferdinand's  hanging  back  at  the  last  mo- 
ment, he  was  determined  to  go  on.  Admiral  Howard  in 
his  first  engagement  with  the  French,  lost  his  life  in  a 
brilliant  exploit,  and  his  crew,  disheartened,  returned  to 
Plymouth.  But  still  Henry  VIII.  set  sail  with  the  rest 
of  the  ships  for  Calais,  with  '  such  a  fleet  as  Neptune 
,    „       never    saw  before,'    and    from    Calais  he 

Gains  the  Bat- 
tle of  the  marched  his  army  a  few  leagues  beyond  the 

^""^  French  frontier,  took  some  towns  of  small 

importance,  and  turned  the  French  army  to  flight  at  the 

Battle  of  the  Spurs. 

He  did  little  harm  to  France  or  good  to  England,  but 

got  some  sort  of  a  victory,  and  so  gratified  his  vanity. 

There  were  of  course  great  rejoicings,  tourna- 

Scotch  inva-  °  .         , 

sionofEng-  ments,  and  pageants,  but  just  m  the  midst 
of  them  came  the  news  that  the  Scotch, 
always  troublesome  neighbours  in  those  days,  before  the 
union  of  the  two  kingdoms,  had,  incited  by  France,  taken 
the  opportunity  of  Henry  VIII. 's  absence  in  France  to 
invade  England,  but  that  through  the  zeal  and  energy 
of  Queen  Catherine  they  had  been  defeated,  and  the 
Battle  of  King  of  Scots  himself  slain,  with  a  host  of 

the  Scotch  nobility,  at  the  Battle  of  Flodden. 
Whereupon  Henry  VIII.,  finding  nothing  better  to  do, 
amid  great  show  of  rejoicing  returned  to  England,  bent 
upon  preparing  for  another  invasion  by-and-by. 

But  his  father-in-law,  Ferdinand,  had  served  him  so 
badly  in  these  two  campaigns — leaving  him  to  bear  the 
brunt  of  them,  while  he  contented  himself  with  taking 


CH.  II.  The  Oxford  Reformers.  91 

and  keeping  Navarre — that  the  end  of  it  was  a  strange 
shuffling  of  the  cards.  Henry  VIII.  made  Henry  viii. 
peace  with  Louis  XII.,  and  England  and  FVaVc^e'against 
France  combined  to  wrest  back  again  from  Spam. 
Spain  that  very  province  of  Navarre  which  Henry  VIII. 
had  helped  Ferdinand  to  wrest  from  France  only  a  few 
years  before. 

In  January  151 5  this  unholy  alliance  was  broken  by 
Louis  XII.'s  death.     He  was  succeeded  by  Francis  I.., 
who,   eager,    like   his   young   rival,   Henry 
VIII.,  to  win  his  spurs  in  a  European  war,    succeeded  by 
at  once  declared  his  intention  that  the  '  mon-    ^"'^"'^'^    • 
archv  of  Christendom  should  rest  under  the    Francis  I. 

^  _  invades  Italy, 

banner  of  France,  as  it  was  wont  to  do  ! '    A   and  recovers 
few  months  after,  he  started  on  the  Italian 
campaign,  in  which,  after  defeating  the  Swiss  soldiers  at 
the  battle  of  Marignano,  he  recovered  the  Duchy  of  Milan. 

Again  both  Ferdinand  and  Henry  VIII. 
were  made  friends  by  their  common  jeal-    andSpairfcom- 
ousy  of  France.     It  would  never  do  to  let    p"*^  against 
France  become  the  first  power  in  Europe. 

So  during  these  years,  instead  of  an  Augustan  age  of 
peace,  reform,   and  progress  in  the  new  learning  and 
civihzation,  through  the  jealousy  and  lust  of 
military  glory  of  her  kings,  stirred  up  by  the    kings  against 
late  warlike  Pope  and  his   Holy  Alliance,    E^rLpe."'"'^ 
Europe   was  harried   with  these  barbarous 
wars ! 

We  have  seen,  in  the  chapter  on   France,  how  her 
national  wars  tended  to  increase  the  power  of  the  Crown, 
and  how  the  fact  that  the  Crown  was  abso- 
lute and  backed  by  its  standing  army,  while    tended  to 
it  tended  to  keep  France  a  united  kingdom    !"ij'^'^f^^e"^ 
on  the  map,  injured  the  nation.     So  it  was 


92  The  Protcstaftt  Revolution.  pt.   i. 

The  ex-  also  in  measure — happily  only  in  measure — • 

ample  of  l  i     j  ■/ 

France.  in  England.     These  wars  tended  to  make 

the  king  absolute.  To  carry  them  on,  not  only  were  all 
the  hoarded  treasures  of  Henry  VII.  dispersed,  but  fresh 
taxes  were  needed ;  and  when  all  the  taxes  were  spent 
that  could  be  got  legally  out  of  votes  of  Parliament, 
Wolsey  was  driven  to  get  more  money  by  illegal  means. 
Narrow  Had  the  war-fever  gone  on  a  little  longer — 

^cape  of  jyg)-  gQ  long  as  to  establish  the  precedent  of 

the  king's  levying  taxes  without  consent  of 
Parliament — then  England  might  well  have  lost  her 
free  constitution,  just  as  France  had  already  done.  But, 
happily,  this  was  not  so  to  be. 

In  the  meantime,  let  us  see  how  the  Oxford  Reformers 
acted  in  this  crisis  of  European  affairs,  how  they  used  all 
their  influence  to  set  the  public  opinion  of  the  educated 
world  against  this  evil  policy  of  European  princes. 
Coiet  Colet  preached   against  the  wars   to   the 

preaches  people  from  his  pulpit  at  St.  Paul's,  and  to 

against  the  ^       ^  r      r 

wars.  the  king  from  the  pulpit  of  the  royal  chapel ; 

and  his  enemies  tried  to  get  him  into  trouble  with  the  king 
for  doing  so.  But  Henry  VIII. ,  wild  as  he  was  for  military 
glory,  was  generous  enough  to  respect  the  sincerity  and 
boldness  of  the  dean ;  and  though  not  wise  enough  to  follow 
his  advice,  refused  to  stop  his  preaching.  Erasmus  made 
known  to  his  learned  friends  all  over  Europe  this  bold  con- 
duct of  Colet  and  his  hatred  of  war.  He  also,  in  his 
letters  to  the  Pope,  princes,  cardinals,  bish- 

trasmus  r    >  jt 

against  ops,  and  influential  men  everywhere,  protest- 

ed against  the  false  international  policy  which 

sacrificed  the  good  of  the  people  to  the  ambition  of  kings, 
and  also  Morc  also  made  no  secret  to  the  king  that 

More.  i^g  ^yjig  opposed  to  his  conquering  France, 

and  that  he  hated  the  wars. 


CH.  II.  The  Oxford  Reformers.  93 


(Ji)   The  kind  of  Reform  ninicd  at  by  the  Oxford 
Reformers. 

It  so  happened  that  just  at  this  time   Erasmus  was 
invited  to  the  court  of  Prince  Charles  of  the  Netherlands 
(afterwards  the  Emperor  Charles  V.),  and    Erasmus 
that  More  was  also  beingr  drawn  by  Henry    made  a 

°  ^  ■'      councillor 

VIII.  into  his  royal  service.     They  both  at  of  Prince 
length  yielded.     Erasmus  became  a  privy 

councillor  of  Prince  Charles,   on  condition  fnto^n^n^" 

that  it  should  not  interfere  with  his  literary  viil.'s 

service. 

work.     More  became  a  courtier  of  Henry 
VIII.  when  peace  was  made  with  France,  on  condition 
that  in  all  things  he  should  '  first  look  to  God,  and  after 
Him  to  the  king.' 

Both  Erasmus  and  More,  in  thus  entering  royal  ser- 
vice, published  pamphlets  or  books  containing  a  state- 
ment of  their  views  on  politics.  Erasmus  called  his 
'The  Christian  Prince;'  More  called  his  a  'Description 
of  the  Commonwealth  of  Utopia.' 

Erasmus,  in   his   'Christian  Prince,'   urged  that   the 
Golden  Rule  ought  to  guide  the  actions  of    -pjjg 
princes — that  they  should  never  enter  upon    Lp.'""'^','^" 
a  war  that  could  possibly  be  avoided,  that   Erasmus. 
the  good  of  their  people  should  be  their  sole  object,  that 
it  was  the  people's  choice  which  gave  a  king  his  title  to 
his  throne,  that  a  constitutional  monarchy  is  much  better 
than  an  absolute  one,  that  kings  should  aim  at  taxing 
their  people  as  little  as  possible  ;  that  the  necessaries  of 
life,  things  in  common  use  among  the  lowest  classes, 
ought  not  to  be  taxed,  but  luxuries  of  the  rich,  and  so 
on:  the  key-note  of  the  whole  being  that  the  object  of 
nations  and  governments  is  the  common  weal  of  the 
whole  people. 


94  '^^^^  Protestant  Revolution.  pt.  n. 

In  the  meanwhile,  More,  in  his  'Utopia,'  or  descrip- 
tion of  the  manners  and  customs  of  an  ideal  common- 
More's  wealth  (' Utopia 'meaning 'nowhere'),  urged 

'Utopia.'  just    tiie    same    points.         The     Utopians 

elected  their  own  king,  as  well  as  his  council  or  parlia- 
ment. They  would  not  let  him  rule  over  anothei. 
country  as  well :  they  said  he  had  enough  to  do  to 
govern  their  own  island.  The  Utopians  hated  war  as 
the  worst  of  evils ;  the  Utopians  aimed  not  at  making 
the  king  and  a  few  nobles  rich,  but  the  whole  people. 
All  property  belonged  to  the  nation,  and  so  all  the  peo- 
ple were  well  off.  Nor  was  education  confined  to  one 
class  ;  in  Utopia  everyone  was  taught  to  read  and  write. 
All  magistrates  and  priests  were  elected  by  the  people. 
Every  family  had  a  vote,  and  the  votes  were  taken  by 
ballot.  Thus  the  key-note  of  More's  'Utopia'  was,  like 
the  '  Christian  Prince'  of  Erasmus,  that  governments  and 
nations  exist  for  the  common  weal  of  the  whole  people. 

If  we  turn  back  to  the  description  already  given  of 
the  two  points  which  mark  the  spirit  of  modern  civiliza- 
tion, and  judge  these  sentiments  of  Eras- 

They  ,    ,.  r  •,  ■  r      ■ 

entered  mus  and  More  from  that  pomt  of  view,  we 

imo'th?  ^  cannot  fail  to  see  how  thoroughly  they  en- 
spirit  of  tered  into  the  spirit  of  the  new  era,  and  how 

modern  ^ 

civilization.  corrcct  and  far-reaching  were  the  reforms 
which  they  urged  upon  the  public  opinion  of  Europe. 

We  must  not  leave  the  Oxford  Reformers  without 
trying  to  get  a  clear  idea  of  the  kind  of  religious  reform 
which  they  urged. 

We  have  seen  that  Colet's  object  was  to  set  the  minds 

of  men  free  from  the  bonds  of  the  scholastic 

of  their  system,   by  leading  men  back    from    the 

refom"^  schoolmcn  to  the  teaching  of  Christ  and 

His  Apostles  in  the  New  Testament. 


CH.  II.  The  Oxford  Reformers.  95 

Erasmus  had  been  all  this  while  labouring  hard  in 
fellow-work  with  him.  He  had  for  years  been  working 
at,  and  now,  in  1 516,  published  at  the  printing-press  at 
Basle,  a  book  which  did  more  to  prepare  the  way  for  the 
religious  reformation  than  any  other  book 
published  during  this  era.  This  was  his  Testament 
edition  of  the  New  Testament,  containing, 
in  two  columns  side  by  side,  the  original  Greek  and  a 
new  Latin  translation  of  his  own.  He  thus  realized  a 
great  object,  "which  Colet  had  long  had  in  view,  viz.,  not 
only  to  draw  men  away  from  scholastic  theology,  but  to 
place  before  them,  in  all  the  freshness  of  the  original 
language  and  a  new  translation,  the  'living  picture'  of 
Christ  and  His  Apostles  contained  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment. By  so  doing  he  laid  a  firm  foundation  for  another 
great  religious  reform,  viz.,  the  translation  of  the  New 
Testament  into  what  was  called  '  the  vulgar  tongue '  of 
each  country,  thus  bringing  it  within  reach  of  the 
people  as  well  as  of  the  clergy. 

'I  wish'  (Erasmus  said  in  his  preface  to  his  New 
Testament)  '  that  even  the  weakest  woman  should  read 
'the  Gospels — should  read  the  Epistles  of  Paul;  and  I 
'wish  that  they  were  translated  into  all  languages,  so 
'that  they  might  be  read  and  understood  not  only 
'by  Scots  and  Irishmen,  but  also  by  Turks  and  Sara- 
'cens.  I  long  that  the  husbandman  should  sing  por- 
'tions  of  them  to  himself  as  he  follows  the  plough, 
'that  the  weaver  should  hum  them  to  the  tunc  of  his 
'shuttle,  that  the  traveller  should  beguile  with  their 
'stories  the  tedium  of  his  journey.' 

Of  course  this  great  work  of  Erasmus  excited  the  oppo- 
sition and  hatred  of  the  men  of  the  old  school,  and  espe- 
cially of  the  monks  and  scholastic  divines,  to  whom  the 
old  Vulgate  version  was  sacred,  and  Greek  a  heretical 


96  The  Protesta7it  Revolution.  pt.   ii. 

tongue.  But  the  New  Testament  went  through  several 
large  editions,  and  when,  a  few  years  after,  the  learned 
men  of  the  Sorbonne  at  Paris  complained  of  what  they 
called  its  heresies,  Erasmus  was  able  to  reply  trium- 
phantly, '  You  are  too  late  in  your  objections.  You 
should  have  spoken  sooner.  It  is  now  scattered  over 
Europe  by  thousands  of  copies  ! ' 

One  other  point  we  have  to  fix  in  our  minds — the 
attitude  of  the  Oxford  Reformers  to  the  ecclesiastical 
^,    , .  ,   ,       system.     We  have  seen  that  their  notion  of 

Ihe  kind  of  .    . 

ecciesiasti-  religion  was  that  it  was  a  thing  of  the  heart 
urged  by  the  — the  love  of  God  and  man.  They  believed 
former  ^^'^'^  it  was  intended  to  bind  men  together 

in  a  common  brotherhood,  not  to  divide  them 
into  sects.  They  complained  how  rival  orders  of  monks 
and  schools  of  theology  hated  one  another.  Christians 
might  differ  about  doctrines,  but  they  ought  to  agree  in 
They  aimed  the  worship  of  God  and  in  their  love  of  one 
and  toferant  another.  Hence  More  in  his  Utopia  had 
Church.  described  the  Utopians  as  giving  full  tolera- 

tion to  all  varieties  of  doctrines  and  differences  of  creeds; 
and  pictured  all  worshipping  together  in  one  united  and 
simple  mode  of  worship,  expressly  so  arranged  as  to  hurt 
the  feelings  of  no  sect  among  them,  so  that  they  all  might 
join  in  it  as  an  expression  of  their  common  brotherhood 
in  the  sight  of  God. 

It  is  clear  that,  holding  these  views,  they  were  likely 
to  urge,  as  they  did  earnestly  urge,  the  reform  of  the 
ecclesiastical  system,  but  that  if  at  any  time  a  great 
dissension  were  to  arise  in  the  Church,  they  would  urge 
that  the  Church  should  be  reformed  and  widened  so  as 
to  give  offence  to  neither  party,  and  include 
likely  to  op-  both  within  it,  and  would  oppose  with  all 
pose  schism.      ^j^^jj.  j^^jgj^^  anything  which  should  break  up 


CH.  III.  TJie  Wittenberg  Reformers.  97 

its  unity  and  cause  a  schism.  Wlicther  right  or  wrong, 
this  would  be  the  course  which  their  own  deep  convic- 
tions would  be  likely  to  lead  them  to  take,  and  this,  we 
shall  see,  was  the  line  the  survivors  of  them  did  take 
when  the  Protestant  struggle  came  on.  We  say  '  the 
survivors,'  because  Colet  did  not  live  to  work  much 
longer.  Even  now,  driven  into  retirement  by  the  perse- 
cution of  the  old  Bishop  of  London,  he  could  do  little 
but  work  at  his  school.     And  he  died  in  1519. 

To  the  beginning   of  the   Protestant  movement  we 
must  now  turn  our  attention. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE   WITTENBERG   REFORMERS. 

(a)  Martin  Luther  becomes  a  Reformer. 

Martin  Luther  was  born  in  1483,  and  so  was  15  years 
youneer  than  Erasmus  and  Colet,  and  three    „ 

■'  *'  Born  1483. 

years  younger  even  than  their  young  friend 
More. 

His  great-grandfather  and  grandfather  were  Saxon 
peasants,  but  his  father  being  a  younger  son  had  left 
home  and  become  a  miner  or  slate-cutter  at 
Mansfield  in  Thuringia,  Both  his  parents  school" 
were  rough  and  hot-tempered,  but  true  and 
honest  at  heart.  Though  working  hard  for 
a  living,  they  sent  their  sons  to  school,  and  wishing  Mar- 
tin to  become  a  lawyer,  they  found  means  to  send  him  to 
the  university  of  Erfurt.  There  he  took  his  degree  of 
M.  A. 

In   1505,  in  fulfilment  some   say  of  a  vow  made   in  a 
dreadful  thunderstorm,  when  he   thought   his   end  was 
ir 


versity. 


pS  The  Protestant  Revolution.  pr.  ii. 

near,  Luther,  contrary  to  his  father's  wishes, 

Becomes  a 

monk.  left  his  law  studies  and  entered  the  Augus- 

tine monastery  at  Erfurt.  He  inherited  the  superstitious 
nature  of  the  German  peasantry.  He  traced  every  harm 
that  came  to  him  through  passion  and  temptation  all 
alike  to  the  Devil.  His  conscience  was  often  troubled. 
His  fasts  and  penances  did  not  give  him  peace.  He 
passed  through  great  mental  struggles,  sometimes  shut 
himself  up  in  his  cell  for  days,  and  once  was  found  sense- 
less on  the  floor.  At  lerigth  he  found  peace  of  mind  in 
the  doctrine  of  'justification  by  faith,'  /.  e.,  that  forgtveP 
ness  of  sins,  instead  of  being  got  by  fasts  and  penances 
and  ceremonies,  is  given  freely  to  those  who  have  faith 
in  Christ.  This  doctrine  he  learned  partly  from  the  pious 
vicar-general  of  the  monastery,  partly  from  the  works  of 
St.  Augustine,  and  under  their  guidance  from  a  study  of 
,  ,        ,  the  Bible.     From  this  time  he  accepted  also 

Adopts  the  '^ 

theology  of  St.  other  parts  of  the  theology  of  St.  Augustine, 
and  especially  those  which,  because  they 
were  afterwards  adopted  by  Calvin,  are  now  called  '  Cal- 
vinistic,'  such  as  that  all  things  are  fated  to  happeji  ac- 
cording to  the  divine  will,  that  man  has  therefore  no  free 
will,  and  that  only  an  elect  humber,  predestinated  to 
receive  the  gift  of  faith,  are  saved. 

It  is  well  to  mark  here  that  these  Augustinian  doctrines 

were,   in  fact,  a  part  of  that  scholastic   theology  from 

which  the  Oxford  Reformers  were  trying  to 

And  in  this  dif-         .  r  t  .  ^-  lx.    i.u 

fered  from  the  Set  men  free.  In  not  acceptmg  them  they 
o  X  f o  r  d  Re-    differed  from  Luther.     But  they  and  Luther 

formers.  ^ 

had  one  thing  in  common.  They  alike  held 
that  religion  did  not  consist  in  ceremonies,  but  was  a 
thing  of  the  heart;  that  true  worship  must  be  in  spirit 
and  in  truth. 

In  1 508  Luther  was  removed  from  Erfurt  to  the  Augus- 


CH.   III.  The  Wittenberg  Reformers.  99 

tinian  monastery  at  Wittenberg,  and  soon 

after  made  preacher  there  at  the  University    moves  to  Wit- 

recently  founded  by  the  Elector  of  Saxony.     '"^"    ^' 

In  i5iohewas  sent  on  an  errand  for  his  monastery 
to  Rome.     There  he  found  wicked  priests    ,, 

V  isits  Rome. 

performing  masses  in  the  churches,  ignorant 
worshippers  buying  forgiveness  of  sins  from  the  priests, 
and  doing  at  their  bidding  all  kinds  of  penances ;  and 
he  came  back  zealous,  like  Colet,  for  reform,  and  with 
the  words  'the  just  shall  live  by  faith'  more  than  ever 
ringing  in  his  ears. 

He  had  been  preaching  and  teaching  the  theology  of 
St.  Augustine  at  Wittenberg  several  years  with  great  ear- 
nestness, when  in  1516  he  read  the  new  edi-   ^     ,    ,    ^T 

•'  Reads  the  New 

tion  of  the  New  Testament  by  Erasmus.  Testament  of 
The  works  of  Erasmus  had  an  honourable 
place  on  the  shelves  of  the  Elector  of  Saxony's  library, 
and  his  New  Testament  was  the  common  talk  of  learned 
men  at  the  universities,  even  at  this  youngest  of  them  all 
— Wittenberg.  Luther  eagerly  turned  over  its  pages,  re- 
joicing in  the  new  light  it  shed  on  old  familiar  passages ; 
but  what  a  disappointment  it  was  to  him  as  by  degrees 
he  discovered  that  there  was  a  great  difference  between 
Erasmus  and  himself — that  Erasmus  did  not  accept  those 
Augustinian  doctrines  on  which  his  own  faith  was  built ! 
He  knew  that  Erasmus  was  doing  a  great  work  towards 
the  needed  reform,  and  this  made  it  all  the  more  painful 
to  find  that  in  these  points  they  differed.  He  was  'moved' 
by  it,  but,  he  wrote  to  a  friend,  '  I  keep  it  to    ^.   , 

^  '■  I'lnds  out  the 

myself,  lest  I  should  play  into  the  hands  of    difference  in 

•u-  •  -Mt         1^     y       ■  -u-  A  their  theology. 

his  enemies.     May  God   give   him  under- 
standing in  his  own  good  time  !  ' 

This  is  a  fact  that  in  justice  to  both  should  never  be 
forgotten.     Luther  was  conscious  of  it  from  the  first,  and 


loo  The  Protestant  Revolution.  pt.  II. 

it  had  this  future  significance,  that  if  Protestantism  (as  it 
afterwards  did)  sliould  follow  Luther  and  adopt  the 
Augustinian  theology,  Erasmus  and  the  Oxford  Re- 
formers never  could  become  Protestants.  Luther  might 
wisely  try  to  keep  it  secret,  but  if  matters  of  doctrine 
should  ever  come  to  the  front,  the  breach  between  them 
was  sure  to  come  out. 

(U)   The  Sa'e  of  Indulgences  ( 1 5 1 7 ) . 

While  Luther  was  preaching  Augustinian  doctrines  at 
Wittenberg,  and  Erasmus  was  hard  at  work  at  a  second 
edition  of  his  New  Testament,  pressing  More's  'Utopia' 
and  his  own  '  Christian  Prince  '  on  the  notice  of  princes 
and  their  courtiers,  expressing  to  his  friends  at  Rome 
his  hopes  that  under  Leo  X.  Rome  might  become  the 
centre  of  peace  and  religion,  Europe  was  all  at  once 
brought  by  the  scandalous  conduct  of  Princes  and  the 
Pope  to  the  brink  of  revolution. 

Leo  X.  wanted  money  to  help  his  nephew  in  a  little 
war  he  had  on  hand.  To  get  this  money  he  offered  to 
Leo  X.'s  grant  indulgences   or  pardons  at  a  certam 

get?^nly°by  price,  to  thosc  who  would  contribute  money 
indulgence.  ^-q  ^\^q  building  of  St.  Pctcr's  at  Rome.  The 
people  were  still  ignorant  enough  to  believe  in  the 
Pope's  power  to  grant  pardons  for  sins,  and  there  was 
no  doubt  they  would  buy  them,  and  so  gold  would  flow 
into  the  coffers  of  Rome.  There  was  one  obstacle. 
Princes  were  growing  jealous  of  their  subjects'  money 
being  drawn  towards  Rome.     But  Leo  X. 

Offers  princes  ,  .  ,  ,        ,  .     .  , 

a  share  in  the  got  ovcr  this  obstacle  by  givmg  them  a 
*^°'''  share  in  the  spoil.     He  offered  Henry  VIIL 

one-fourth  of  what  came  from  England,  but  Henry  VHL 
haggled  and  bargained  to  get  a  third  !  Kings  had  made 
themselves  poor  by  their  wars,  and  a  share  in  the  papal 


CH.    ni.  The  Wittenberg  Reformeis.  loi 

spoils  on  their  own  subjects  was  a  greater  temptation 
than  they  could  resist. 

Erasmus  in  his  '  Praise  of  Folly  '  had  described  indul- 
eences  as  '  the  crime  of  false  pardons,'  and    ^ 

°  _  Erasmus 

now  in  every  letter  and  book  he  wrote  he    writes  bitterly 
bitterly  complained  of  the  Pope  and  Princes   ^^^'"^ 
for  resorting  to  them  again. 
He  wrote  to  Colet : — ■ 

'  I  have  made  up  my  mind  to  spend  the  remainder  of  my  life 
with  you  in  retirement  from  a  world  which  is  everywhere  rotten. 
Ecclesiastical  hypocrites  rule  in  the  courts  of  princes.  The  Court 
ol'  riome  clearly  has  lost  all  sense  of  shame  ;  for  what  could  be 
more  shameless  than  these  continued  indulgences  1  ' 

And  in  a  letter  to  another  friend,  he  said  : — 

'  All  sense  of  shame  has  vanished  from  human  affairs.  I  see  that 
the  very  height  of  tyranny  has  been  reached.  The  Pope  and 
Kings  count  the  people  not  as  men,  but  as  cattle  in  the  market ! ' 

But  though  Erasmus  numbered  among  his  friends  Leo 
X.,   Henry  VIII.,   Francis   I.,  and   Prince  Charles,  he 
found  them  deaf  to  his  satire,  and  unwilling 
to  reform  abuses  which  filled  their  treasuries,    ^ingrwilf  not 

They  would  not  listen  to  Erasmus,     It  re-   I'st^^"- 
mained  to  be  proved  whether  they  would  listen  to  Lu- 
ther! 

[c)  Luther's  Attack  on  Indulgences  {/j//.) 
Wittenberg  was  an  old-fashioned  town  in  Saxony,  on 
the  Elbe.     Its  main  street  was  parallel  with  the  broad 
river,  and  within  its  walls,  at  one  end  of  it,    „,.      , 

'  Wittenberg. 

near  the   Elster  gate,  lay   the   University, 
founded  by  the  good  Elector — Frederic  of  Saxony — of 
which  Luther  was  a  professor  ;  while  at  the  other  end  of 
it  was  the  palace  of  the  Elector  and  the  palace  church  of 
All  Saints.     The  great  parish  church  lifted  its  two  towers 


I02    "  The  Protestant  Revolution.  pt.  ii, 

from  the  centre  of  the  town,  a  little  back  from  the  main 

street.     This  was  the  town  in  which  Luther  had  been 

preaching  for  years,  and  towards  which  Tct- 

Tetzel  comes  ,,,.., 

near,  selling      zel,  the  Seller  of  mdul^ences,  now  came,  lust 

if,  o  >  'J 

u  genets.  ^g  1^^  ^j^  ^^  other  towns,  vending  his  '  false 
pardons  ' — granting  indulgences  for  sins  to  those  who 
could  pay  for  them,  and  offering  to  release  from  purga- 
tory the  souls  of  the  dead,  if  any  of  their  friends  would 
pay  for  their  release.  As  soon  as  the  money  chinked  in 
his  money-box,  the  souls  of  their  dead  friends  would  be 
let  out  of  purgatory.  This  was  the  gospel  of  Tetzel.  It 
made  Luther's  blood  boil.  He  knew  that  what  the  Pope 
wanted  was  people's  money,  and  that  the  whole  thing 
was  a  cheat.  This  his  Augustinian  theology  had  taught 
him  ;  and  he  was  not  a  man  to  hold  back  when  he  saw 
what  ought  to  be  done.  He  did  see  it.  On  the  day  be- 
fore the  festival  of  All  Saints,  on  which  the  relics  of  the 
Church  were  displayed  to  the  crowds  of  country  people 
who  flocked  into  the  town,  Luther  passed  down  the  long 
street  with  a  copy  of  ninety-five  theses  or  statements 
Luther's  against  indulgences  in  his  hand,  and  nailed 

against  in-  them  upon  the  door  of  the  palace  church 
duigences.  ready  for  the  festival  on  the  morrow.  Also 
on  All  Saints'  day  he  read  them  to  the  people  in  the 
great  parish  church. 

It  would  not  have  mattered  much  to  Tetzel  or  the  Pope 
that  the  monk  of  Wittenberg  had  nailed  up  his  papers  on 
He  is  backed  the  palace  church,  had  it  not  been  that  he 
Ekctor  of  '^^s  backed  by  the  Elector  of  Saxony.  The 
Saxony.  Elcctor  was  an  honest  man,  and  had  the 

good  of  the  German  people  at  heart.  Luther's  theses 
laid  hold  of  his  mind,  and  a  few  days  after  it  is  said  that 
he  dreamed  that  he  saw  the  monk  writing  on  the  door  of 
his  church  in  letters  so  large   that   he  could  read  them 


* 


CH.   III.  The  Wittenberg  Reformers.  103 

eighteen  miles  off  at  his  palace  where  he  was,  and  that 
the  pen  grew  longer  and  longer,  till  at  last  it  reached  to 
Rome,  touched  the  Pope's  triple  crown  and  made  it  tot- 
ter. He  was  stretching  out  his  arm  to  catch  it  when  he 
awoke !  The  Elector  of  Saxony,  whether  he  dreamed 
this  dream  awake  or  asleep,  was  at  least  wide  awake 
enough  to  refuse  permission  for  Tetzel  to  enter  his  do- 
minions. 

Then  came  a  year  or  two  of  controversy  and  angry 
disputes ;  and  just  at  the  right  time  came  Philip  Melanch- 
thon,  from  the  University  of  Tubingen,  to    ^, .,. 

Philip 

strengthen  the  staff  of  the   Elector's   new    Meianch- 
University  at   Wittenberg — a  man  deep  in    to  wuten^^ 
Hebrew  and  Greek,  a  half-disciple  of  Eras-    ^*^''^- 
mus — already  pointed  out  as  likely  to  turn  out  '  Erasmus 
II.,'  of  gentle,  sensitive,  and  affectionate  nature,  the  very 
opposite  of  Luther,  but   yet  just  what  was  wanted   in 
another  Wittenberg  Reformer — to  help  in  argument  and 
width  of  learning ;  to  be  in  fact  to  Luther,  partly  what 
Erasmus  had  been  to  Colet.     In  the  weary  and  hot  dis- 
putes which  now  came  upon  Luther,  Mclanchthon   was 
always  at  his  elbow,  and  helped  him  in  his  arguments  ; 
while  the  fame  of  Luther's  manly  conduct  and  Melanch- 
thon's  learning   all  helped  to  draw  students  to  the  Uni- 
versity from  far  and  near,  and  so  to  spread  the  views  of 
the  Wittenberg  Reformers  more  and  more  widely. 

[d)    The  Election   of  Charles    V.  to  the  Empire  [ijig). 

Suddenly,  in  15 19,  the  noise  of  religious  disputes  was 
drowned  in  the  still  greater  noise  of  political  excitement. 
Maximilian  died,  and  anew  Emperor  had  to    ^     ,     . 

'  Death  of 

be  elected.    Prince  Charles,  who  was  now    Maximilian. 
King  of  Spain  also,  wanted  to  be  Emperor;    foV  the 
so  did  Francis  I.,  though  a  Frenchman  ;  so    ^^"h^"''^- 


I04  The  Protestant  Revolution.  pt.  ii. 

did  Henry  VIII.,  claiming  that,  though  England  was  not 
a  subject  of  the  Empire,  the  English  language  was  a 
German  tongue,  while  French  was  not.  The  princes 
of  the  Empire  wanted  the  Elector  of  Saxony  to  be  Em- 
peror, but  he  was  the  one  man  who  cared  most  for  the 
interests  of  Germany,  and  had  least  selfish  ambition. 

It  was  a  question  which   of  the  three  princes  could 

bribe  a  majority  of  the  seven  Electors.     Henry  VIII.  did 

not  risk  enough  to  give  himself  a  chance.     It  was  not 

really  likely  that,  however  much  they  might 

elected  be  bribed,  the  Electors,  who  were  all  Ger- 

through  the  .  i  i       i  t-  i 

influence  of  man  prmccs,  would  choose  a  Frenchman. 
of^sfionT  '^^'^  Elector  of  Saxony  practically  decided 
the  election  in  favour  of  Prince  Charles. 
The  following  letter  of  Erasmus,  who  was  a  councillor  of 
Prince  Charles,  will  show  what  manner  of  man  the  good 
Elector  was. 

'  The  Duke  Frederic  of  Saxony  has  written  twice  to  me  in  reply 
to  my  letter.  Luther  is  supported  solely  by  his  protection.  He 
says  that  he  has  acted  thus  for  the  sake  rather  of  the  cause  than  of 
the  person  (of  Luther).  He  adds,  that  he  will  not  lend  himself  to 
the  oppression  of  innocence  in  his  dominions  by  the  malice  of  those 
who  seek  their  own,  and  not  the  things  of  Christ.'  .  .  .  '  When  the 
imperial  crown  was  offered  to  Frederic  of  Saxony  by  all  (the  Elec- 
tors), with  great  magnanimity  he  refused  it,  the  very  day  before 
Charles  was  elected.  And  Charles  never  would  have  worn  the  im- 
perial title  had  it  not  been  declined  by  Frederic,  whose  glory  in  re- 
fusing the  honour  was  greater  than  if  he  had  accepted  it.  When  he 
was  asked  who  he  thought  should  be  elected,  he  said  that  no  one 
seemed  to  him  able  to  bear  the  weight  of  so  great  a  name  but 
Charles.  In  the  same  noble  spirit  he  firmly  refused  the  30,000  flo- 
rins offered  him  by  our  people  (i.  e.  the  agents  of  Charles).  When 
he  was  urged  that  at  least  he  would  allow  10,000  florins  to  be  given 
to  his  servants,  "  They  may  take  them"  (he  said)  "if  they  like,  but 
no  one  shall  remain  my  servant  another  day  who  accepts  a  single 


CH.    III. 


The  Wittenberg  Reformers. 


piece  of  gold."  The  next  day  he  took  horse  and  departed,  lest 
they  should  continue  to  bother  him.  This  was  related  to  me  as 
entirely  credible  by  the  Bishop  of  Liege,  who  was  present  at  the 
Imperial  Diet.' 

Would  that  Charles  V.  had  followed  throughout  his 
reign  the  counsels  of  the  good  Elector  to  whom  he  owed 
his  crown!  Charles's  grandfather,  Ferdinand,  had  died 
only  a  few  months  before,  and  he  was  himself  in  Spain, 


settling  the  affairs  of  his  new  kingdom,  when  he  was 
elected.     We  have  now  to  mark  what  power  had  fallen 
into  the  hands  of  this  prince  of  the  House  of  Hapsburg. 
On  the  map  are  distinguished  the  Austrian,    Extent  of 
Burgundian,   and  Spanish  provinces  which    Sharks  V.'s 
c^mc  under  his  rule.     We  must  remember, 
too,  how  the  ambition  of  Spain  was  to  increase  its  Ital- 


io6  The  Protestant  Revolution.  PT.  li. 

ian  possessions,  and  that,  as  head  of  the   'Holy  Roman 
Empire,'  he  was  also  nominally  King  of  Italy! 

{e)  Liithcrs  Breach  with  Rome  (1520). 

While  these  political  events  had  been  absorbing  atten- 
tion, the  religious  disputes  between  Luther  and  the  papal 
party  had  been  going  on, 
^    ,      ,   ,  They  had  this  sincrular  effect  upon  Luther : 

Luther  finds  •'  ^  ^  .     . 

himself  a  they  drovc  him  to  see  that  his  Augustinian 

views  were  identical  with  those  of  Wiclif  and 
Huss.  He  was  astonished,  as  he  described  it,  to  find 
that  'he  was  a  Hussite  without  knowing  it ;  that  St.  Paul 
and  Augustine  were  Hussites  I ' 

The  fact  was  that  Wiclif  and  Huss,  like  Luther,  had 
in  a  great  degree  got  their  views  from  the  works  of  St. 
Augustine:  they  had  so  adopted  many  of  the  doctrines 
which  belonged  to  what  we  have  said  is  now  called  the 
Calvinistic  theology. 

This  discovery  hastened  on  his  quarrel  with  the  Pope. 
The  Pope  and  Councils  had  denounced  Wiclif  and  Huss 
as  heretics ;  therefore  Popes  and  Councils  were  not  in- 
fallible.    This  was  the  conclusion  to  which 

Rumoured  Pa-  i       i     i      i  ■^  ■,  • 

pal  Bull  against  Luther  camc.  Luther  had  declared  himself 
a  Hussite,  therefore  the  papal  party  con- 
tended he  must,  like  Huss,  be  a  heretic ;  and  the  long 
continuance  of  the  Hussite  wars  being  taken  into  account 
he  must  be  a  dangerous  heretic.  So  the  Pope  made  up 
his  mind  to  issue  a  Papal  Bull  against  Luther. 

When  rumours  of  this  reached  Luther,  so  far  from  be- 
ing fearful,  he  became  defiant.  He  at  once  wrote  two 
pamphlets. 

The  first  was  addressed  '  To  the  Nobility  of  the  German 
nation.'   It  was  published,  in  both  Latin  and  German,  in 


CH.   III.  The  Wittenberg  Reformers.  107 

1520,  and  4,000  copies  were  at  once  sold. 

If  we  bear  in  mind  what  has  already  been    phietTo^the'"" 

said  in  the  section  'On  the  Ecclesiastical   G°^jian .iL'on. 

System,'  the  chief  points  of  the  pamphlet 

will  be  easily  understood. 

The  gist  of  it  was  as  follows : — 

'  To  his  Imperial  Majesty  and  the  Christian  Nobility  of  the  Ger- 
man nation,  Martin  Luther  wishes  grace,  &c.  The  Romanists  have 
raised  round  themselves  walls  to  protect  themselves  from  reform. 
One  is  their  doctrine,  that  there  are  two  separate  estates;  the  one 
spiritual,  \iz.  pope,  bishops,  priests,  and  monks;  the  other  secw^ar, 
viz.  princes,  nobles,  artisans,  and  peasants.  And  they  lay  it  down 
that  the  secular  power  has  no  power  over  the  spiritual,  but  that  the 
spiritual  is  above  the  secular;  whereas,  in  truth,  all  Christians  are 
spiritual,  and  there  is  no  difference  between  them.  The  secular 
power  is  of  God,  to  punish  the  wicked  and  protect  the  good,  and  so 
has  rule  over  the  whole  body  of  Christians,  without  exception,  pope, 
bishops,  monks,  nuns  and  all.  For  St.  Paul  says,  '  Let  every  soul 
(and  I  reckon  the  Pope  one)  be  subject  to  the  higher  powers.' 
[Luther  was  writing  this  to  the  secular  princes,  and  they  were  likely 
to  listen  to  this  setting  up  of  their  authority  above  that  of  the  clergy. 
He  was  writing  also  to  the  German  nation,  and  he  knew  well  how 
to  catch  their  ear  too.]  '  Why  should  300,000  florins  be  sent  every 
year  from  Germany  to  Rome  ?  Why  do  the  Germans  let  themselves 
be  fleeced  by  cardinals  who  get  hold  of  the  best  preferments  and 
spend  the  revenues  at  Rome  ?  Let  us  not  give  another  farthing  to  the 
Pope  as  subsidies  against  the  Turks ;  the  whole  thing  is  a  snare  to 
drain  us  of  more  money.  Let  the  secular  authorities  send  no  more 
annates  to  Rome.  Let  the  power  of  the  Pope  be  reduced  within 
clear  limits.  Let  there  be  fewer  cardinals,  and  let  them  not  keep 
the  best  things  to  themselves.  Let  the  national  churches  be  more 
independent  of  Rome.  Let  there  be  fewer  pilgrimages  to  Italy. 
Let  there  be  fewer  convents.  Let  priests  marry.  Let  begging  be 
stopped  by  making  each  parish  take  charge  of  its  own  poor.  Let 
us  inquire  into  the  position  of  the  Bohemians,  and  if  Husswas  in 
the  right,  let  us  join  with  him  in  resisting  Rome.' 


io8  TJie  Protestant  Revolution.  pt.  ii. 

And  then,  at  the  end,  he  threw  these  few  words  of  defi- 
ance at  the  Pope : — 

'  Enough  for  this  time  !  I  know  right  well  that  I  have  sung  in  a 
high  strain.  Well,  1  know  another  little  song  about  Rome  and  her 
people  !  Do  their  ears  itch  ?  I  will  sing  it  also,  and  in  the  highest 
notes  !     Dost  thou  know  well,  my  dear  Rome,  what  I  mean?' 

His  other  pamphlet — his  '  other  httle  song  about  Rome ' 

— was  an  attack  upon  her   doctrines.     It  was   entitled 

'  On  the  Babylonish  Captivity  of  the  Church,' 

Another  pam-  ii-i 

phiet  on  the  and  in  it  he  repeated  his  condemnation  of 
Captivity'of  indulgences,  denied  that  the  supremacy  of 
the  Church.'  ^^^^  Pope  was  of  divine  right,  declared  the 
Pope  a  usurper,  and  the  Papacy  the  kingdom  of  Baby- 
lon;  and  then,  turning  to  matters  of  doctrine,  boldly  re- 
duced the  sacraments  of  the  Church,  by  an  appeal  to 
Scripture,  from  seven  to  three — Baptism,  Penance,  and 
the  Lord's  Supper.  He  ended  this  pamphlet  in  as  defiant 
a  tone  as  the  other.  'He  heard'  (he  said)  'that  Bulls 
'  and  other  terrible  Papistical  things  were  being  prepared, 
'by  which  he  was  to  be  urged  to  recant  or  be  declared  a 
'heretic.  Let  this  little  book  be  taken  as  a  part  of  his 
'recantation,  and  as  an  earnest  of  what  was  to  come  ! ' 

While  the  printing-press  was  scattering  thousands  of 
copies  of  these  pamphlets  all  over  Germany,  in  Latin  for 
The  Bull  the  learned,  and    in    German  for  the  com- 

arrives.  mou    pcoplc,    the    BuU    arrived,    and    the 

Elector  of  Saxony  was  ordered  by  the  Pope  to  deliver 
up  the  heretic  Luther.  The  question  now  was,  What 
would  Luther  do  with  the  Bull,  and  the  Elector  with 
Luther? 

(_/)    The  Elector  of  Saxony  co7isults  Erasmtts, 
December  6,  1520. 

Much  at  this  moment  depended  on  what  the  good 
Elector  of  Saxony  would  do.     Well  was  it  that  the  fate 


CH.  III.  The  Wlttetiberg  Reformers.  109 

of  Luther  lay  in  the  hands  of  so  conscientious  a  prince. 
He  and  his  secretary  Spalatin  were  at  Cologne,  where 
Charles  V.,  after  his  recent  coronation,  was  holding  his 
court.  Melanchthon  and  Luther  were  in  constant  corres- 
pondence with  Spalatin.  Melanchthon  wrote  that  all 
their  hopes  rested  with  the  prince,  and  urged  Spalatin  to 
do  his  best  to  prevent  Luther  being  crushed, — '  a  man,' 
he  said,  '  who  seemed  to  him  almost  inspired,  and 
whom  he  dared  to  put  not  only  above  any  other  man 
of  the  age,  but  even  above  all  the  Augustines  and 
Jeromes  of  any  age  ! '  So  enthusiastic  a  disciple  of  the 
bold  Luther  had  the  gentle  Melanchthon  become! 
Spalatin  did  his  best. 

Aleander,  the  Pope's  nuncio,  and  supposed  author  of 
the  '  Bull,'  was  at  Cologne,  wild  against  Luther  and 
doing  all  he  could  to  get  the  Emperor  to  make  common 
cause  with  the  Pope.  He  knew  that  the  Elector  of 
Saxony  stood  in  the  wav,  and  did  his  best    ., 

'  .  Aleander, 

to  win  him  over,     Erasmus,  bemg  one  of    the  Pope's 
the  Emperor's  council,  also  was  there,  and   ""  win 'over 
Aleander  knew   that    he,  too,  was    against   ofl^xony"^ 
the  crushing  of  the  poor  monk,  and  if  he 
could  have  bribed  him  over  with  a  bishopric,  or  secretly 
poisoned  him,  there  is  evidence  that  it  would  most  likely 
have  been  done.  The  Elector  was  bent  upon  doing  what 
was  right  and  best  for  Germany   and  for    Christendom, 
and  anxious  to  have  the  advice  of    the    best  and    the 
wisest  men  upon  the  course  he  should  take.     Erasmus 
had  written  to  the  Wittenberg  Reformers,  praising  their 
zeal,  but  advising  more  gentleness.     Melanchthon  had 
sent    the    letter    from    Erasmus    to    the  good  Elector, 
who  now  wanted  to  consult  Erasmus  confidentially  him- 
self.    Spalatin  managed  the  interview.      It  was  in  the 
Elector's  rooms  at  the  inn  of  '  The  Three  Kings '  that 


no  The  Protestant  Revolution.  PT.  ii. 

they  met,  the    Elector,  Erasmus    and    Spalatin.       The 

Elector  asked  of  Erasmus  through  Spalatin,  in  Latin,  as 

they  stood  over  the  fire,  'What  he  really  thought  of 

Luther?'  and  fixed  his  eyes  eagerly  upon 

The  Elector         ,  ,  .       ,     ^  ^    J'       ^ 

asks  advice  him  as  he  waited  for  an  answer.  Erasmus 
said,  with  a  smile,  '  Luther  has  committed 
two  crimes!  He  has  hit  the  Pope  on  the  crown  and 
the  monks  on  the  belly.' 

This  was  exactly  the  truth.  The  Elector's  dream  had 
come  true.  Luther's  great  pen  had  reached  to  Rome 
and  touched  the  Pope's  triple  crown.  Leo  X.  was  a  sort 
of  patron  of  Erasmus,  but  that  did  not  hinder  Erasmus 
from  condemning  the  Bull.  The  monks  were  his  old 
enemies,  bitter  against  the  new  learning,  haters  of  him- 
self and  Colet  as  well  as  Luther,  because  they  saw  their 
craft  was  in  danger  as  men's  eyes  became  more  and 
more  opened.  Therefore  Erasmus  could  afford  to  smile 
a  bitter  sarcastic  smile  at  the  expense  of  both  Pope  and 
monks.  Before  he  left  he  wrote  down  on  paper  a  short 
The  advice  Statement  of  his  opinion  that  the  monks' 
of  Erasmus.  hatred  of  the  new  learning  was  at  the  bot- 
tom of  their  zeal  against  Luther,  whilst  only  two  uni- 
versities had  condemned  him;  that  Luther's  demand  to 
be  properly  heard  was  a  fair  one  ;  and  that  being  a  man 
void  of  ambition,  he  was  less  likely  to  be  a  heretic.  At 
all  events  the  views  of  Luther's  opponents  were  worse 
than  his ;  all  honest  men  disapproved  of  the  Bull ;  and 
clemency  was  what  ought  to  be  expected  of  the  new 
Emperor. 

While  thus  he  spoke  in  favour  of  fair  dealing  with 
Luther,  he  at  the  same  time  found  much  fault  with  Lu- 
„,    „,  ther's  violent  way  of  going  to  work  and  his 

The  Elector  .  J  b         a 

follows  it.  abusive  language.     The  result  of  the  inter- 

view was  reported  to  Luther.     Melanchthon  and  he  were 


CH.   III.  The  Wittenberg  Reformers.  in 

well  satisfied  with  the  advice  given  by  Erasmus.  They 
considered  that  it  had  great  weight  in  strengthening  the 
Elector  in  favour  of  Luther.  At  all  events  the  Elector 
followed  it  in  two  points — he  remained  firm  in  defence 
of  Luther,  and  at  the  same  time  he  wrote  and  recom- 
mended to  Luther  more  of  that  gentleness  the  want  of 
which  had  displeased  Erasmus. 

{g)  Luther  burns  the  Pope's  Bull,  December  lo,  1520. 

Perhaps  the  advice  of  the  Elector  to  Luther  came  just 
too  late  !  The  meeting  with  Erasmus  at  the  inn  of  the 
'  Three  Kings '  at  Cologne  was  on  December  5.  In  the 
meantime  Luther  had  been  making  up  his  mind  what  to 
do,  and  on  the  loth  he  did  it,  we  may  suppose  before  the 
posts  from  Cologne  had  reached  him. 

Excited,  and  as  Melanchthon  said,  seeming  almost 
inspired,  conscious  of  right  and  also  of  power,  Luther 
wished  all  Europe  to  see  that  a  German  monk  could  dare 
to  defy  the  Pope.  Had  there  been  a  mountain  at  Wit- 
tenberg he  would  have  lit  his  bonfire  on  the  top,  and  let 
the  world,  far  and  near,  see  the  Pope's  Bull  blaze  in  its 
flames.    Butthere  wasnoteven  a  hill  in  that    ,    , 

.  Luther 

flat  country.  So  m  solemn  procession,  at  bums  the 
the  head  of  his  fellow-doctors  and  the  stu- 
dents of  the  university,  he  marched  through  the  Elster 
gate,  and  there,  outside  the  city  walls,  in  presence  of  the 
great  German  river  Elbe,  he  burned  the  Bull,  and  as 
many  Roman  law  books  as  he  could  find.  His  burning 
the  Bull  against  himself  was  a  personal  act  of  defiance. 
His  burning  the  Roman  law  books  was  a  public  decla- 
ration that  the  German  nation  ought  not  to  be  subject  to 
the  jurisdiction  of  Rome.  Amid  the  cheers  of  the  crowd, 
Luther  returned  to  his  rooms.  That  a  man  of  hot  tem- 
per, fastening  by  his  daring  act  the  eyes  of  all  Europe 


112  The  Protestant  Revolution.  PT.  il. 

upon  himself,  assuming  as  it  were  the  leadership  of  a  na- 
tional crusade  against  the  Pope  of  Rome,  should  be  for 
the  moment  carried  away  by  excitement  into  extrava- 
gance was  only  natural.  Luther  was  in  fact  greatly 
excited,  and  on  the  next  day,  in  his  crowded  lecture- 
room,  let  himself  utter  wild  words,  declaring  that  those 
who  did  not  join  in  contending  against  the  Pope  could 
not  be  saved,  and  that  those  who  took  delight  in  the 
Pope's  religion  must  be  lost  for  ever.  He  then  wrote  an 
abusive  reply  to  the  Bull,  hurling  all  sorts  of  bad  names 
against  the  Pope,  and  pushing  his  Augustinian  doctrines 
to  so  extreme  a  point  as  to  amount  to  fatalism. 

Grand  as  is  the  figure  of  Luther  on  the  page  of  history, 
as,  in  December  1520,  he  dared  to  make  himself  the 
mouth-piece  of  Germany,  demanding  reform,  threatening 
revolution  if  reform  could  not  be  had,  it  must  be  admitted 
Erasmus  that  he  was  playing  with  fire.     Was  not  the 

fears  revolu-      ^rain  already  laid  for  revolution  ?     Will  not 

tion.  ^ 

such  wild  words  lead  to  still  wilder  acts  of 
the  ignorant  peasantry  ?  Sober-minded  lookers  on,  like 
Erasm.us,  feared  this.  He  had  feared  from  the  first  that 
Luther's  want  of  discretion  might  bring  on  a  '  universal 
revolution,'  and  had  therefore  urged  moderation.  Instead 
of  moderation  had  come  still  wilder  defiance.  '  Now,' 
he  wrote,  '  I  see  no  end  of  it  but  the  turning  upside  down 
'  of  the  whole  world.  .  .  .  When  I  was  at  Cologne  I 
'  made  every  effort  that  Luther  might  have  the  glory  of 
'obedience  and  the  Pope  of  clemency,  and  some  of  the 
'  sovereigns  approved  this  advice.  But  lo  and  behold, 
'the  burning  of  the  Decretals,  the  "  Babylonish  captivi- 
'ty; "  those  propositions  of  Luther,  so  much  stronger 
'than  they  need  be,  have  made  the  evil  apparently 
'incurable.' 


CH.  IV.      The  Crisis — Reform  or  Revolution.  113 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE   CRISIS. — REFORM    OR   REVOLUTION. — REFORM 
REFUSED    BY   THE  RULING   POWERS. 

[a]   Ulrich  von  Hiittcn  and  Fra7t3  von  Sickingen. 
The  fears  of  Erasmus  were  well  founded.     There  were 
wilder  spirits  in  Germany  than  Luther. 

Not  far  north  of  Worms,  where  the  first  Diet  of  the 
Emperor  Charles  V.  was  going  to  meet,  was  the  castle 
of  Ebernburg,  where  the  bold  knight  Franz  vofi  Sickitigen 
had  gathered  round  him  the  chiefs  of  these  wild  spirits. 
Franz  himself  was  a  wild  lawless  knight,  liv-    _    ^  ^. 

.  ,     The  Robin 

ing  upon  private  war,  hiring  out  himself  and    Hoods  of 
his  soldiers  to  fight  out  private  quarrels,  and,    side  with 
like   his   relative    Goctz  von    Berlichingcn,    Luther, 
popular  because   of   his    bravery   and    rough    justice. 
Goetz  and  Franz  might  be  said  to  be  in  many  respects, 
the  Robin  Hoods  of  Germany. 

Such  a  man  as  Franz  was   sure  to  side  with    Luther 
though  he  had  already  engaged  himself  and  his  soldiers 
for  hire  to  the  Emperor  Charles  V.     One  of  his  guests  at 
the  castle  was  Ulrich  von  Huttcn,  a  knight   uirich  von 
like  himself,  but  there  was  this  difference   ^utten. 
between  them.     Hutten's  pen  was  his  lance.     Placed 
like  Erasmus  in  his  youth  in  a  cloister,  he  too  had  torn 
himself  from   it   and   taken   to  a  literary  life.     Not  so 
learned,  but  with  even  keener  wit  than  Erasmus,  neglect, 
poverty,  and  suffering  had  embittered  more  his  wild  war- 
like spirit.     His  pen  was  ever  ready  to  be  dipped  in  gall, 
and  following  the  example  set  by  Erasmus  in  his  '  Praise 
of  Folly, 'he  tried  to  mend  the  world  by  satire.    h!s  satire 
He  had  been  to  Rome,  and  in  Latin  rhyming   "p°"  R°me. 
verses  he  hold  up  her  vices  to  scorn,     He  pointed  out 
1 


114  The  Protestant  Revolution.  pt.  ii. 

in  these  rhymes  how  German  gold  flowed  into  the  coffers 
of  the  '  Simon  of  Rome.'  He  sneered  at  the  bUndness 
and  weakness  of  the  German  nation  in  letting  them- 
selves be  the  dupes  of  Rome.  When  Luther  came  upon 
the  scene,  Hutten's  heart  was  stirred.  He  made  his  re- 
solve to  rush  into  the  fight  against  Rome  The  fears  and 
tears  of  his  family  could  not  stop  him.  He  was  disin- 
herited for  doing  it,  but  do  it  he  must.  Hitherto  his 
rhymes  had  been  in  Latin,  and  thus  only  read  by  the 
learned.  Henceforth  he  would  write  in  German  for  the 
Fatherland. 

In  Latin  hitherto  I've  written, 
popular  ^  tongue  all  did  not  understand  : — 

rhymes  Js'ow  call  I  on  the  Fatherland, 

against  n,-,      ^  ...  , 

E^ome.  The  German  nation,  in  her  mother  tongue. 

To  avenge  these  things. 
'  Germany  must   abandon  Rome.     Liberty  for  ever ! 
The  die  is  cast.'     This  was  the  cry  of  his  popular  Ger- 
man rhymes. 

To  Luther  he  held  out  the  hand  of  devoted  friend- 
ship : — 

Servant  of  God,  despair  not ! 
Could  I  but  give  a  helping  hand, 
Or  in  these  matters  counsel  thee. 
So  would  I  spare  nor  goods 
Nor  my  own  blood ! 

And  on  the  eve  of  the  Diet  of  Worms  he  issued  his 
'  Complaint  and  exhortatiofi  against  the  extravagant  and 
7tnchristian  powet  of  the  Pope^  in  rhyme,  in  which  he 
exposed  the  tyranny,  wealth,  worldliness,  and  cost  to 
Germany  of  Rome,  and  tried  to  lash  up  the  German  peo- 
ple into  rebellion  against  it.  Now  was  the  time  to  free 
Germany  from  the  Roman  yoke.  He  ap- 
freedom  from  pealed  to  the  Emperor  as  the  natural  leader 
Rome.  ^j-  ^i^g  German   nation.     It  would  redound 


CH.  IV.      The  Crisis — Reform  or  Revolution.  115 

to  his  honour.  He  alone  should  be  the  captain. 
All  free  Germans  would  serve  with  gladness  the  sa- 
viour of  their  country.  '  Help,  worthy  king,  unfurl  the 
'  standard  of  the  eagle,  and  we  will  lift  it  high.  If  warn- 
'  ings  will  not  do,  there  are  steeds  and  armour,  halberts 
'  and  swords,  and  we  will  use  them  ! ' 

There  was  something  pathetic  in  this  cry  of  the  Ger- 
mans to  their  Emperor.  The  very  peasants  of  the 
'  BiiJidschiih  '  we  saw  would  have  made  him  their  leader, 
had  he  listened  to  their  appeal  against  their  feudal  op- 
pressors, and  now  the  German  nation  was  beseeching 
him  to  head  their  rebellion  against  Rome  !  These  were 
but  outbursts  of  a  general  yearning  for  unity  among  the 
German  people.  They  felt  the  necessity  of  central 
power  as  the  only  cure  for  the  evils  under  which  they 
suffered,  and  now  when  the  quarrel  of  Luther  and  the 
Pope  had  brought  ecclesiastical  grievances  to  the  top, 
the  question  was  whether  Charles  V.,  in  his  first  Diet, 
would  side  with  the  German  nation,  or  sell  the  German 
nation  for  his  own  selfish  objects  to  the  Pope  ! 

Meanwhile  appearances  were  ugly.  Luther  wrote  to 
Spalatin  :  '  I  expect  you  will  return  with  the  stale  news 
that  there  is  no  hope  in  the  court  of  Charles.'  gn^^ji  chances 
Erasmus  wrote:  'There  is  no  hope  in  of  reform- 
Charles;  he  is  surrounded  by  Sophists  and  Papists.' 
But  Hutten  hoped  against  hope.  Such  men  are  san- 
guine. If  Charles  would  do  his  duty  to  Germany  in  the 
Diet  of  Worms,  all  might  be  well.  If  not,  Hutten  was 
ready  for  revolution.  Sickingen  had  soldiers ;  with  the 
pen  and  the  sword  they  would  rise  in  rebellion. 

{i>)    The  Diet  of  IVorms  meets  28th  fanuary,  1^21. 
Let  us,  for  a  moment,  leave  these  wilder  spirits  and 
try  to   understand   what  it  was  that  the  more  sober- 


1 1 6  The  Protestant  Revolution.  PT.  ll. 

minded  of  the  German  people  expected  from  the  Diet  of 
Worms. 
Happily  there  is  among  English  State  papers  a  copy 
of 'Agenda,'  or  as  it  is  headed,  '  A  memory 

Agenda    at  .  •' 

the  Diet  of         of  divers  matters  to  be  provided  in  the  pre- 

V/orms.  -^.  r  TIT  > 

sent  Diet  of  Worms. 

The  following  are  the  chief  heads,  and  in  these  we 
cannot  fail  to  recognize  what  in  former  chapters  we  have 
found  to  be  the  real  grievances  of  the  German  nation. 

(i)  To  make  some  ordinance  that  no  man  without 
consent  of  the  Emperor  and  Electors  shall  for  any  per- 
Tostoppri-  sonal  cause  presume  to  declare  war  as  in 
vate  war.  times  past.     On  this  the  cities  and  towns  are 

determined  to  stick  fast. 

(2)  To  settle  certain  disputes  between  various  parties. 
To  settl  d'  (There  be  above  thirty  bishops  at  variance 
P"tes.  with  their  temporal  lords  for  their  jurisdic- 

To  provide  tion.) 

fnThe'Em^^"^  ^3^  "^^^  Emperor  to  provide  a  vicar  and 
peror's  ab-  council  in  his  absence.  If  the  Duke  of 
Saxony  will  not  take  the  charge,  there  will 
be  great  difficulty  in  finding  one  who  will  please  the 
generality,  for  enmities  are  so  numerous. 

(4)  To  take  notice  of  the  books  and  descriptions  made 
by  Friar  Martin  Luther  against  the  Court  of  Rome.  The 
Martin  which    Friar    Martin,    of   the    Elector    of 

Luther.  Saxony  and  other  princes  is  much  favoured. 

We  have  here  a  list  of  the  chief  grievances  befoie 
noticed,  (i)  The  evil  of  the  constant  private  wars  rf 
the  nobles,  especially  to  the  commerce  of  the  towns. 
(2)  The  constant  quarrels  between  the  civil  and  eccle- 
siastical powers.  (3)  The  want  of  a  central  govern- 
ment. {4)  The  Lutheran  complaints  against  Rome. 
Only  the  grievances  of  the  poor  peasants  find  no  voice  I 


cii.  IV.      Tlie  Crisis — Reform  or  Revoiution.  117 

Perhaps  it  was  not  likely  they  should.  They  had  no 
friends  at  court.  They  had  tried  to  make  their  voice 
heard  sword  in  hand,  and  had  not  their  re-    ^,  , 

JNonope 

bellions  been  quelled  and  their  standard  of    for  the 
the  Bundschuh  trodden  in  the  dust  ?     Had 
not  even  Joss  Fritz  been  lost  sight  of  for  years  ?     It  was 
not  their  silent  grievances,  but  the  more  noisy  ones 
which  were  to  be  heard  at  the  Diet, 

The  Diet  was  opened  by  Charles  V.  on  the  28th 
January,  1521. 

The  first  business  was  the  appointment  of  a  Council 
of  Regency  to  manage  the  affairs  of  the  Empire  during 
the  Emperor's  projected  absence  in  Spain.  Then  came 
the  establishment  of  an  imperial  chamber,  and  the 
granting  of  an  impost  or  tax  to  defray  the  expenses  of 
the  government. 

These  political  matters  were  proceeding,  when  one 
day  in  February  on  which  a  tournament  was  to  be  held 
and    the   Emperor's    banner    was    hoisted    „  .  ^^. 

'  Brief  fr*om 

ready  for  the  lists,  the  princes  were  called  Rome  about 
together  to  hear  read  a  brief  just  arrived 
from  Rome.  This  brief  exhorted  the  Emperor  to  add 
the  force  of  law  to  the  Pope's  Bull  against  Luther  by  an 
imperial  edict.  The  Emperor  had  now  an  opportunity 
of  showing  that  tlie  unity  of  the  Church  was  as  dear  to 
him  as  to  the  Emperors  of  old.  He  wore  the  sword  in 
vain  if  he  did  not'  use  it  against  heretics,  who  were  far 
worse  than  infidels.  So  urged  the  Pope.  The  Emperor 
had  already  had  Luther's  books  burned  in  the  Nether- 
lands, and  he  now  produced  to  the  princes  an  edict 
commanding  the  rigorous  execution  of  the  Bull  in 
Germany.  He  was  evidently  ready  to  yield  to  the 
wishes  of  the  Pope,  but  it  was  needful  to  consult  the 
Electors.     Some  of  the  Electors  were  of  course  not  pre- 


ii8  The  Protestant  Revolution.  pt.  ii. 

,„    ^,  pared  to  accept  the  proposal  of  the  Empe- 

1  he  Electors        ^  '^  ' 

hesitate  to  ror.  In  Order  to  persuade  them,  Aleander, 
ed?ct  against  the  papal  nuncio,  delivered  at  another  ses- 
Luther.  gj^j^  ^f  ^^  X^'itt   a   speech   nine   hours   in 

length,  in  which  he  inveighed  against  the  heresies  of 
Luther,  urged  that  he  should  be  condemned  unheard, 
and  declared  that  'unless  the  heresy  were  stopped, 
Germany  would  be  reduced  to  that  frightful  state  of 
barbarism  and  desolation  which  the  superstition  of 
Mahomet  had  brought  upon  Asia.'  The  Electors 
seemed  to  be  swayed  by  his  eloquence.  They  cared 
little  for  Luther's  doctrinal  heresies,  nay,  they  were 
willing  to  sacrifice  the  heretic  if  the  grievances  of  the  Ger- 
man nation  against  Rome  could  but  be  remedied.  But 
these  grievances  were  too  real  to  be  passed  over  so  easily. 
The  Diet,  after  further  delay,  appointed  a  committee 
to  draw  up  a  list  of  these  grievances.  Meanwhile  the 
speech  of  Aleander  had  been  reported  to  Hutten,  who 
was  staying,  as  we  said,  at  the  castle  of  Franz  von 
Sickingen,  a  few   miles   from   Worms.     It 

Hutten  ad-  o       > 

jures  the  Stirred  his  wrath  to  think  of  Luther's  being 

Emperor  not  ,  ,  ,  i  «,  .1 

to  yield  to  condemned  unheard.     At  once,  on  the  spur 

Rome.  qJ-  jj^g  moment,  he  dipped  his  pen  in  gall, 

and  wrote  letters  of  violent  invective  against  the  papal 
nuncio  and  the  bishops  assembled  at  Worms.  One  of 
them  was  addressed  to  the  Emperor,  declaring  that  the 
hope  of  Germany  had  been  that  he  would  free  her  from 
the  Romish  yoke  and  put  an  end  to  the  papal  tyranny, 
and  contrasting  with  these  high  hopes  '  so  great  an  Em- 
peror, the  king  of  so  many  peoples,  cringing  willingly 
to  slavery,  without  waiting  even  till  he  is  forced.* 

'  What ! '  he  exclaimed, '  has  Germany  so  ill  deserved  of  thee  that 
with  thee,  not  fighting  for  thee,  it  must  go  to  the  ground  ;  lead  us 
into  danger!     Lead  us  into  battle  and  fire  I     Let  all  nations  unite 


CH.  IV.      The  Crisis — Reform  or  Revolution.  119 

against  us,  all  peoples  rush  upon  us,  so  that  at  least  we  may  prove 
cur  courage  in  danger !  Don't  let  us,  cringing  and  unmanly,  with- 
out battle,  lie  down  like  women  and  become  slaves ! ' 

Such  was  the  shrill  cr>'  of  scorn  which  the  course 
things  were  taking  at  Worms  called  forth  from  Hutten. 

When  the  list  of  grievances  was  brought  in  at  a  future 
sitting  of  the  Diet,  the  debate  was  resumed.  The  com- 
plaints against  Rome  were  so  strongly  put  that  they 
made  a  deep  impression  on  the  Diet.  The  Electors  re- 
covered from  the  effects  of  the  nuncio's  speech.  The 
Prince  Electors  who  sided  with  Luther  urged  that  '  it 
'  would  be  iniquitous  to  condemn  a  man  without  hearing 
'  him,  and  that  the  Emperor's  dignity  and  piety  were 
'  engaged  that,  should  Luther  retract  his  errors,  those 
'  other  matters  should  be  recognized  on  which  he  had 
'  written  so  learnedly  and  Christianly,  and  that  Germany 
'  should,  by  the  authority  of  the  Emperor,  be  freed  from 
'  the  burdens  and  tyrannies  of  Rome.'  They  urged  also 
the  necessity  of  granting  Luther  a  safe-conduct,  and  sum- 
moning him  to  appear  before  the  Diet  to  defend  himself. 

The  Emperor  gave  way,  and  on  March  6  the  sum- 
mons and  safe-conduct  were  issued,  and  an    ,    , 

Luther 

imperial    herald   sent    to   bring   Luther   to    summoned  to 

, ,  r  Worms . 

W  orms. 

(c)  Liithcr  s  journey  to   Worms  {1^21). 

The  herald  arrived  at  Wittenberg,  and  on  April  2 
Luther  set  out  for  Worms. 

That  he  went  with  his  mind  fully  made  up  not  to  give 
way  or  patch  up  his  quarrel  witli  the  Pope  was  shown  by 
this.     He  left  in  the  hands  of  Lucas  Cranach, 

1  •  r  tTT-  1  •  ,-     I-uthcr's 

the  great  pamtcr  of  W  ittenberg,  a  series  of  Antithesis 
wood-cuts  prepared  by  Cranach,  with  cxpla-  and  Ami- 
nations  in  German  at  the  foot,  added   by    '^^"-'^'- 


I20  The  Protestant  Revolution.  vv.  ii. 

himself,  depicting  the  Antithesis,  or  Contrast  between 
Christ  and  the  Pope.  It  was,  in  his  own  words,  '  a  good 
book  for  the  laity.' 

He  and  Hutten,  to  widen  the  circle  of  their  readers, 
and  make  their  appeals  to  the  Fatherland  heard  by  all 
classes,  had  scattered  their  pamphlets  in  German  all 
over  Germany.  Luther  now  called  in  the  aid  of  these 
wood-cuts  to  make  his  appeal  still  more  popular  and 
telling  on  the  multitude. 

Luther  had  found  himself,  to  his  own  surprise,  following 
in  the  track  of  the  Hussites  of  Bohemia.  He  had  openly 
avowed  it.  Indeed,  he  seems  to  have  been  fond  of 
copying  some  of  their  acts,  perhaps  to  mark  the  identity 
of  his  object  with  theirs.  They  had  commenced  with 
burning  the  Papal  Bull,  and  so  had  Luther.  It  was  re- 
corded in  the  Hussite  chronicles  that  one  of  the  things 
which  roused  the  people  in  Bohemia  against  the  Pope 
was  the  painting  by  tow  Englishmen  on  the  walls  of  an 
inn  at  Prague  of  two  pictures,  one  representing  Christ 
entering  Jerusalem  meek  and  lowly,  on  an  ass  ;  the 
other  the  Pope  proudly  mounted  on  horseback,  glitter- 
ing in  purple  and  gold.  Luther  and  Cranach  had  im^ 
proved  upon  this  example,  and  produced  a  series  of 
wood-cuts  with  a  precisely  similar  intention. 

Christ  refusing  a  crown  was  contrasted  with  the  Pope 
in  his  tiara.  Christ  in  the  crown  of  thorns,  being  beaten 
and  mocked,  was  contrasted  with  the  Pope  on  his  throne, 
in  all  his  magnificence.  Christ  washing  the  disciples' 
feet  was  contrasted  with  the  Pope  holding  out  his  sacred 
toe  to  be  reverently  kissed  by  his  courtiers.  Christ  heal- 
ing the  sick  was  contrasted  with  the  Pope  watching  a 
tournament.  Christ  bending  under  the  burden  of  his 
Cross  was  contrasted  with  the  Pope  borne  in  state  on 
men's  shoulders.    Christ  driving  the  money-changers  out 


CH.  IV.      The  Crisis — Refo7-?n  or  Revolution.  121 

of  the  temple  was  contrasted  with  the  Pope  selling  his 
dispensations,  and  with  piles  of  money  before  him. 
Christ's  humble  entry  into  Jerusalem  was  contrasted  with 
the  Pope  and  his  retinue  in  all  their  glory,  but  the  road 
they  are  travelling  is  shown  in  the  background  of  the 
picture  to  lead  to  hell.  Finally,  the  Ascension  of  Christ 
is  contrasted  with  the  descent  of  the  Pope,  in  his  triple 
crown  and  papal  robes,  headlong  under  an  escort  of  de- 
mons and  hobgoblins,  into  the  flames  of  the  bottomless  pit. 

That  he  left  behind  him  this  '  good  book  for  the  laity,' 
to  be  published  in  his  absence,  was  a  mark  of  the  defiant 
spirit  in  which  he  went  to  Worms.  But  underneath  this 
spirit  of  defiance,  it  must  never  be  forgotten,  was  a  deep 
feeling  that  he  was  fighting  in  the  cause  of  God.  '  My 
dear  brother,'  he  said  to  Melanchthon,  in  parting,  '  if  I 
do  not  come  back,  if  my  enemies  put  me  to  death,  you 
will  go  on  teaching  and  standing  fast  in  the  truth ;  if 
yote  live,  my  death  will  matter  little.' 

Amidst  the  tears  of  his  friends,  he  stepped  into  the 
covered  wagon  and  commenced  his  journey.  Others, 
too,  thought  he  was  eoingr  out  to  his  death.    ,    ^ 

'  °  .  Luther  sets 

At  one  place  which  he  passed  there  was  a  off  for 
priest  who  kept,  hanging  up  in  his  study,  a 
portrait  of  Savonarola.  He  took  down  the  picture  from 
the  wall  and  held  it  up  in  silence  before  Luther.  Luther 
was  moved.  'Stand  firm,'  said  the  priest,  'in  the  truth 
thou  hast  proclaimed,  and  God  will  as  firmly  stand  by 
thee.'     The  journey  took  him  twelve  days.    , 

Till  1  IT-/-  1  '/-    "'^  journey. 

He  had  to  pass  through  Erfurt,  the  scene  of 
his  mental  struggles.  He  spent  a  night  at  the  old  con- 
vent, and  the  next  day,  contrary  to  the  terms  of  his  safe- 
conduct,  fearlessly  preached  in  the  little  church  of  the 
convent  to  crowds  of  people.  Earnest  tender  words 
were  his  that  day,  setting  forth  that  true  religion  is  a 


122  The  Pf-otestant  Reiwlution.  pt.  ii, 

thing  of  the  heart,  and  not  of  ceremonies  or  penances, 
moving  multitudes  to  tears,  and  making  converts.  In 
the  midst  of  it  a  portion  of  the  crowded  building  gave 
way,  and  people  were  terrified  by  the  crash.  In  his  wild 
imagination  he  set  it  down  to  Satan  trying  to  hinder  him. 
All  through  his  journey  he  seemed  to  meet  with  the 
Devil  at  every  step.  If  he  was  fatigued  and  ill,  it  was 
Satan  who  brought  him  low  ;  but,  he  wrote  from  Frank- 
fort to  Spalatin,  'Christ  lives,  and  we  will  enter  Worms 
in  spite  of  all  the  gates  of  Hell  and  the  powers  of  the 
air !' 

These  things  did  but  prove  his  sense  of  the  importance 
of  the  work  in  which  he  was  engaged.  His  wild  enthu- 
siasm grew  out  of  what  was  true  heroism.  The  noise, 
the  worship  of  the  crowd,  the  danger  and  excitement, 
would  have  turned  the  head  of  any  mere  enthusiast. 
When  men  are  excited  they  must  needs  do  strange 
things  ;  and  of  course  on  this  journey  to  Worms  strange 
things  were  done.  At  one  place  a  parody  on  the  Litany 
was  produced,  like  the  parodies  made  by  modern  revo- 
lutionary agents:  —  'Have  mercy  upon  the  Germans. 
'  From  the  tyranny  of  the  Roman  Pontiff  deliver  the  Ger- 
'  mans.  From  the  insatiable  avarice  of  the  Romans 
'  deliver  the  Germans.  That  Martin  Luther,  that  upright 
'  pillar  of  the  Christian  faith,  may  soon  arrive  at  Worms, 
'we  beseech  Thee  to  hear  us.  That  the  zealous  German 
'  Knight,  Ulrich  Hutten,  the  defender  of  Martin  Luther, 
'  may  persevere  in  upholding  Luther,  we  beseech  Thee  to 
'  hear  us,'  and  so  on.  Of  course,  wherever  the  procession 
stopped  at  night  the  inns  were  full ;  there  were  crowds, 
Popular  vulgar  merry-making,  and  music.     Luther 

excitement.  himself  played  upon  his  flute,  and  doubtless, 
as  his  enemies  reported,  there  was  no  lack  of  jollity  over 
the  beer.    All  this  was  in  the  very  nature  of  things.    The 


CH.  IV.      The  Crisis — Reform  or  Revolution.  123 

point  to  mark   is  this — it    did  not  turn    the  head  of 
Luther, 

When  news  of  the  enthusiasm  occasioned  by  Luther's 
progress  to  Worms  arrived  at  the  city,  the  papal  party 
became  alarmed.  Charles  V.  sent  his  private  confessor 
with  messages  of  compromise,  but  Luther  refused  to  lis- 
ten till  he  reached  Worms.  It  was  well  he  did,  for  the 
safe-conduct  was  nearly  expired,  and  there  was  danger 
of  treachery.  Luther's  friends,  too,  became  alarmed. 
Even  Spalatin  was  afraid  of  his  life  if  he  entered  Worms, 
and  reininded  him  of  the  fate  of  Huss,  whose  safe-con- 
duct availed  him  little.  Luther's  noble  reply  was,  '  Huss 
was  burned,  but  not  the  truth  with  him.'  He  afterwards 
told  the  Elector  of  Saxony,  when  recalling  Luther's  he- 
to  mind  his  own  marvellous  courage,  '  The  """"^  firmness. 
'  Devil  saw  in  my  heart  that  even  had  I  known  that 
'  there  would  be  as  many  devils  at  Worms  as  tiles  upon 
'the  house-roofs,  still  I  should  joyfully  have  plunged  in 
'  among  them  ! ' 

As  he  drew  near  the  city,  six  knights  and  a  troop  of 
horsemen  of  the  princes'  retinues  went  out  to  meet  him  ; 
and  under  their  escort,  the  Emperor's  herald    He  enters 
leading  the  way,  and  a  great  crowd  drag-       °'^"'^' 
gling  through  the  streets  beside  him,  in  his  covered  wag- 
on and  monk's  gown,  Luther  entered  Worms. 

(d)  Luther  before  the  Diet. 

The  next  day,  towards  evening,  he  was  brought  before 
the  Diet.     The  Emperor  presided.     Six  Electors  were 
present,  and  a  large  number  of  archbishops,    Luther's  first 
bishops,  and  nobility — about  two  hundred   beforeTh" 
in  all.     There  was  a  pile  of  Luther's  books    ^'*'- 
on  the  table. 

The  official  then  formally  put  to  Luther  two  questions: 


124  The  Protestant  Revolution.  PT.  ii. 

'  Do  you  acknowledge  these  books  to  be  yours?'  '  Do 
you  retract  the  heretical  doctrines  they  contain  ?  ' 

Luther  replied,  '  I  think  the  books  are  mine ; '  and, 
He  asks  for        after  the  titles  had  been  read    over,  '  Yes 

time  to  consi-       .i         i        i  •         •        a  .1  1 

der  his  an-  the  books  are  mine.  As  to  the  second 
^^^'■-  question,  he  said  it  would  be  rash  for  him  to 

reply  before  he  had  had  time  for  reflection. 

The  papal  party,  who  had  expected  to  find  Luther 
raging  like  a  lion,  began  to  think  he  was  going  to  give 
way.  His  deportment  had  been  meek  and  modest.  The 
^,        .  young  Emperor  turned  to  one  of  his  cour- 

They  give  .  . 

him  till  the  ticrs  and  said,  '  This  man  will  never  make 
ay.  ^  heretic  of  me.'     Luther's  request  for  time 

was  allowed  till  the  next  day,  and  on  condition  that  he 
gave  his  reply  viva  voce. 

He  was  taken  back  to  his  inn.  People  did  not  know 
what  to  make  of  it.  Some  thought  he  would  retract. 
But,  in  the  din  and  bustle  around  him,  Luther  wrote  a 
letter  to  one  of  his  friends.  '  I  write  to  you  from  the 
'  midst  of  the  tumult.  ...  I  confessed  myself  the  author 
'  of  my  books,  and  said  I  would  reply  to-morrow  touching 
'my  recantation.  With  Chris  fs  help,  I  shall  never  re- 
'  tract  one  tittle  I ' 

That  night  there  was  excitement  and  noise  in  the 
Excitement  Streets;  quarrels  between  opposing  parties  in 
ill  Worms.         ^^  crowd,  and  soldiers  rushing  about. 

The  next  day  Luther  prepared  himself.  He  was  heard 
to  pray  earnestly,  and  had  his  Bible  open  before  him. 
At  four  o'clock  the  herald  came  to  bring  him  before  the 
Diet.  The  streets  were  full  of  people,  and  spectators 
looked  down  from  the  tops  of  the  houses  as  the  herald 
led  him  through  passages  and  private  ways  to  escape 
the  crowd.  It  was  dark  before  they  reached  the  hall, 
and  torches  were   lit.     As  Luther  walked  up  the  hall 


CH.  IV.      The  Crisis — Reform  or  Revolution.  1 25 

several  noblemen  met  him  with  encouraging  words, 
amongst  whom  was  the  old  General  Frundsberg,  of 
whom  we  shall  hear  more  hereafter. 

The  hall  was  crowded,  and  some  time  was  lost  before 
the  Princes  and  Electors  were  settled  in  their  places. 

The   official   at   length — two   hours   after 

,     ,  ,.  Luther's 

time — opened  the  prOCeedmgS.  second  ap- 

pearance 
'  Martin  Luther,  yesterday  you  acknowledged  the    t^.'oi'e  the 
books   pubhshed   in  your   name.     Do   you  retract 
those  books  or  not?  .  ,  .  Will  you  defend  all  your  writings  or  dis- 
avow some  of  them  ? ' 

Luther  replied,  in  a  speech  which  seemed  to  his  ene- 
mies long  and  rambling ;  but  according  to  his  own  and 
Spalatin's  version  of  it,  the  pith  of  what  he  said  was 
this : — 

'  Most  serene  Emperor!     Illustrious  Princes,  &c., — At  the  time 

fixed  for  me  yesterday  evening  I  am  here,  as  in  duty  bound,  and  I 

pray  God  that  your  Imperial  Majesty  will  be  pleased 

r   .  ,1  r     Luther's 

to  listen,  as  I  hope  graciously,  to  these  matters  of    speech. 

justice  and  truth.     And  should  I  from  inexperience 

omit  to  give  to  any  one  his  proper  titles,  or  offend  against  the 

etiquette  of  courts,  I  trust  you  will  pardon  me,  as  one  not  used  to 

them. 

'  I  beseech  you  to  consider  that  my  books  are  not  all  of  the  same 
kind. 

'  (i)  There  are  some  in  which  I  have  so  treated  of  faith  and 
morals  that  even  my  opponents  admit  that  they  are  worthy  to  be 
read  by  Christian  people.  If  I  were  to  retract  these,  what  should  I 
do  but — I  alone,  among  all  men — condemn  what  friends  and  foes 
alike  hold  to  be  truth  ! 

'  (2)  Others  of  my  books  are  against  the  papacy  and  popish 
proceedings — against  those  whose  doctrine  and  example  have  wasted 
and  ruined  Christendom,  body  and  soul.  This  no  one  can  gainsay, 
for  the  experience  of  all  men,  and  the  complaints  of  all,  bear 
witness  that  through  the  laws  of  the  Pope  and  the  teaching  of  men 
the  consciences  of  the  faithful  have  been  vexed  and  wronged,  and 


126  The  Protestant  Revolution.  PT.  ll. 

the  goods  and  possessions  of  this  great  German  nation  by  faithless 
tyranny  devoured  and  drained — yes,  and  will  without  end  be 
devoured  again !  .  .  .  .  Now  if  1  were  to  retract  these,  I  should 
do  nothing  but  strengthen  this  tyranny.  To  its  vast  unchristian 
influence  I  should  not  only  open  the  windows  but  the  door  also, 
so  that  it  would  rage  and  spoil  more  widely  and  freely  than  it  has 
ever  yet  dared  to  do.  Under  cover  of  this  my  recantation,  the 
yoke  of  its  shameless  wickedness  would  become  utterly  unbearable 
to  the  poor  miserable  people,  and  it  would  be  thereby  established 
and  confirmed  all  the  more  if  men  could  say  that  this  had  come 
about  by  the  power  and  direction  of  your  Imperial  Majesty,  and  of 
the  whole  Roman  Empire.  Good  heavens  !  what  a  great  cloak  of 
wickedness  and  tyranny  should  I  be  ! 

'  (3)  The  third  kind  are  those  books  which  I  have  written  against 
some  private  persons,  as,  for  instance,  against  those  who  have 
undertaken  to  defend  the  Roman  tyranny,  and  to  oppose  what  I 
thought  to  be  the  service  of  God,  against  whom  I  know  I  have  been 
more  vehement  than  is  consistent  with  the  character  and  position  of 
a  Christian.  For  I  do  not  set  myself  up  as  holy.  I  do  not,  however, 
dispute  for  my  own  life,  but  the  doctrine  of  Christ.  I  cannot 
retract  even  these  books,  but  I  am  ready  to  listen  to  anyone  who, 
can  show  me  wherein  in  these  books  I  have  erred.' 

Here  Luther  paused.  He  had  spoken  in  German 
with,  as  he  thought,  modesty,  but  with  great  fervour  and 
determination.  The  perspiration  stood  on  his  brow,  he 
was  exhausted  with  the  effort  of  speaking :  but  when 
the  Emperor,  who  hardly  understood  German,  ordered 
him  to  repeat  what  he  had  said  in  Latin,  after  whisper- 
ing to  a  privy  counsellor  of  the  Elector  of 

Repeats  his  °  ^         -^ 

speech  in  Saxony,  who  stood  by  him,  he  obeyed,  and 

repeated  his  words  in  the  language  which 
not  only  Charles  but  the  papal  nuncio  could  understand. 
And  now,  as  they  understood  more  fully  what  he  said, 
the  anger  of  the  papal  party  was  naturally  more  kindled. 
When  he  had  done,  the  orator  of  the  Court,  betraying 
his  hostility  by  his  manner,  declared  that  Luther's  an- 


CH.  IV.      The  Ci'isis — Reform  or  Rcvoliitioti.  127 

swer  was  not  a  fair  one.     They  were  not  there  to  dispute 
about  things  that  had  long  ago  been  settled  by  Councils. 
He  demanded  a  plain,  ungarnished  answer.     Would  he 
recant  or  not? 
Luther  replied : — 

'  Well,  then,  if  your  Imperial  Majesty  requires  a  plain  answer, 
I  will  give  one  without  horns  or  teeth  !     It  is  this  ;  that  I  must  be 
convinced  either  by  the  testimony  of  the  Scriptures 
or  clear  arguments.     For  I  believe  things  contrary    recant 
to  the   Pope  and  Councils,  because  it  is  as  clear  as 
day  that  they  have  often  erred  and  said  things  inconsistent  with 
themselves.     I  am  bound  by  the  Scriptures  which  I  have  quoted ; 
my  conscience  is  submissive  to  the  word  of  God  :  therefore  I  may 
not,  and  will  not,  recant,  because  to  act  against  conscience  is  unholy 
and  unsafe.     So  help  me  God!     Amen.' 

One  other  attempt  was  made  to  get  him  to  yield,  but 
in  vain,  and  night  coming  on,  the  Diet  was  adjourned 
to  the  following  morning,  to  hear  the  decision  of  the 
Emperor.  The  princes  retired  through  the  dark  streets 
to  their  several  inns;  Luther  to  his.  Frederic  of  Saxony 
sent  for  Spalatin  and  expressed  his  approval  of  Luther's 
conduct,  except  that  perhaps  he  had  spoken  too  boldly. 

Next  morning,  the  19th  April,  the  Emperor  sent  to  the 
princes  a  message  written  by  his  own  hand,  in  French, 
declaring  his  intention   to  proceed  against   „„ 

^  .  The    Emperor 

Luther  as  an  avowed  heretic,  and  calling   decides  against 

.1  •  .        1      .1  A  .       Luther. 

upon  the  pnnces  to  do  the  same.  An  at- 
tempt was  then  made  by  the  papal  party  to  induce  the 
Emperor  to  rescind  the  safe-conduct  of  Luther.  The 
precedent  of  Huss  was  cited.  'Why  should  not  Luther, 
with  Huss,  be  burned,  and  the  Rhine  receive  the  ashes 
of  the  one  as  it  had  those  of  the  other?  This  proposal 
met  with  strong  opposition  from  the  princes,  and  was 
negatived. 


128  The  Protestant  Rfvolution.  pt.  ii. 

But  while  these  discussions  Avere  going  on  in  the  Diet, 
murmurs  were  heard  out  of  doors.  The  proposal  to 
withdraw  the  safe-conduct  roused  the  righteous  indigna- 
^,  ,        tion  of  men  like  Hutten  to  the  point  almost 

Threats  of 

revolution.  of  frenzy.  A  placard  was  found  posted  on 
the  walls  of  the  Town  Hall,  stating  that  400 
knights  and  8,000  foot  were  ready  to  defend  Luther 
against  the  Romanists.  It  had  no  signature,  but  under- 
neath were  written  the  ominous  words,  ' Bundschuh, 
Bundschuh,  Bundschuh.'  Rumours  came  of  murmurs 
and  movements  of  the  people  in  distant  parts  of  Ger- 
many. Franz  von  Sickingen,  a  few  miles  off  the  city, 
was  said  to  be  prepared  to  take  to  the  sword,  and  the 
rumours  of  this  inspired  terror  in  the  minds  of  the  papal 
party,  as  it  gave  some  colour  of  likelihood  to  the  threats 
of  Hutten  and  the  placard. 

Under  the   influence   of  the   fears   thus  excited,  the 
Electors  prevailed  upon  the  Emperor  to  srive 

The  Electors  ^  ^  ^       ,      '  * 

urge  delay.         a  few  days  more  for  a  further  attempt  to 

shake  Luther's  firmness. 
All  was  done  that  could  be  done  to  shake  it,  but  with- 
out avail.     Luther's  mind  was  made  up.     Let  the  Pope 
and  the  Emperor  do  their  worst,  he  would  stand  by  his 
conscience  and  the  Scriptures.     At  last,  on  the  26th  of 

April,  he  received  orders  from  the  Emperor 

Luther  leaves  '^  ,       ^  ,,        .  ,  ,^ 

Worms.  to  depart  on  the  following  day.     Twenty-one 

days  were  given  -him  for  his  return  to  Wit- 
tenberg, and  on  the  morrow,  escorted  as  before  by  the 
imperial  herald,  Luther  left  the  crowded  streets  of  Worms 
and  comnienced  his  journey  homewards. 

He  left  Worms  the  hero  of  the  German 

had  done  at        nation.     He  single-handed  had  fought  the 

Gerrany,'         battle  of  Germany  against  the  Pope.     He 

had  hazarded  his  life  for  the  sake  of  the 


CH.  IV.      The  Crisis — Reform  or  Revolution.  1 29 

Fatherland.  It  was  this  which  made  Luther's  name  a 
household  word  with  the  Germans  for  ages  to  come. 
There  is  no  name  in  the  roll  of  German  historic  heroes 
so  German,  national,  and  typical  as  Luther's. 

But  Luther  fought  a  battle  at  Worms  not  only  for 
Germany  but  Christendom — not  only  against  the  Pope, 
but  against  all  powers,  religious  or  secular, 

*=  ^  .  and  for 

who  seek  to  lay  chams  upon  the   human    Christen- 
mind  and  to  enthrall  the  free  belief  of  the     °™" 
people.     Against    the    Emperor   as   well   as   the   Pope, 
against  all  powers  that  be,  he  asserted  the  right  of  free- 
dom of  conscience. 

(<r)  Edict  against  Luther. 

No  sooner  had  Luther  left  Worms  than  the  papal 
nuncio  set  himself  to  work  to  perfect  his  triumph.  Lu- 
ther had  not  recanted,  therefore  the  Emperor  must  issue 
an  edict  against  him. 

The  threatenings  of  Hutten  had  at  first  made  the 
papal  party  nervous.  They  thought  that  he  and  Sick- 
ingen  had  really  ready  a  force  of  soldiers  to  Fears  of  the 
make  good  their  threats.  Everywhere  the  p^'P^'  p^"^- 
feeling  of  the  German  nation  in  favour  of  Luther  and 
against  the  Pope  was  apparent,  and  nowhere  more  so  than 
at  Worms.     They  felt  themselves  on  dangerous  ground. 

Luther,  a  few  days  before  leaving  the  city,  wrote  an 
address  to  the  German  princes,  containing  an  account  of 
the  proceedings  at  the  Diet.  This  was  soon  scattered 
over  Germany  by  the  printers,  and,  just  as  the  minds  of 
the  Germans  were  thus  excited  in  favour  of  Luther,  the 
rumour  spread  from  city  to  city,  that  in  spite  of  his  safe- 
conduct,  Luther  was  captured  and  had  been    „  , 

"  Rumours  ot 

cruelly   treated.     Popular   indignation   was    Luther's 

^11  -IT-  capture, 

thus  roused  ;  murmurs  rose  against  the  Lm- 

K 


130  The  Protestant  Revolution.  pt.  ii. 

peror  among  the  princes  as  well  as  the  common  people. 
Again  the  papal  party  feared  nothing  less  than  a' general 
riot  against  the  emperor  and  his  ecclesiastical  advisers, 
headed  by  Hutten  and  his  friends. 

But  at  length  news  came  that  Luther  was  safe  in 
friendly  hands,  having  been  secretly  carried  off  to  the 
castle  of  the  Wartburg,  in  Thuringia,  and  kept  there  in 
safety  by  his  own  friends.  As  the  days  went  by,  the 
papal  party  gathering  courage,  began  to  laugh  at  Hutten's 
threats  as  bluster,  and  strained  every  nerve  to  hasten  on 
the  issue  of  the  imperial  edict  against  Luther. 

The  Elector  of  Saxony  saw  the  turn  things  were  tak- 
ing. He  saw  that  Charles  was  won  over  by  the  Pope. 
The  Elector  He  wrote  to  his  brother  that  it  was  not  only 
leaves""^  '  Annas  and  Caiaphas,  but  Pilate  and  Herod 

Worms.  also,'  that  had   combined  against    Luther, 

and  not  caring  to  remain  where  he  could  do  no  good,  he 
left  Worms. 

In  fact  Aleander,  the  papal  nuncio,  had  triumphed. 
On  May  8  a  treaty  was  signed  between  Charles  V.  and 
the  Pope,  in  which  they  mutually  promised 
tween  to   have   the  same   friends   and   the   same 

andthe  enemies,  the  Pope  agreeing  to  side  with  the 

^°P^-  Emperor,  and   to  exert   all   his  powers   to 

drive  the  French  out  of  Milan  and  Genoa,  and  the  Em- 
peror, as  the  price  of  the  Pope's  alliance,  promising  to 
employ  all  his  powers  against  Luther  and  his  party. 
,  Aleander  had  triumphed,  and  accordingly  prepared  an 
edict  against  Luther.  It  required  some  cleverness  to  get 
The  edict  the  Sanction  of  the  Electors.     The  edict  was 

ag."inst  Lu-  produced  and  read  unexpectedly  in  the  Em- 
'^^'■-  '    peror's  own  apartments  to  such  of  the  Elec- 

tors as  remained  in  Worms,  and  received  their  hasty 
approval    without    discussion.      The    next    Sunday,    as 


CH.  IV.      The  Crisis — Reform  or  Revolution.  131 

Charles  V.  was  in  church,  Aleander  brought  the  official 
copies,  and  then  and  there  obtained  the  imperial  signa- 
ture. He  took  care  to  date  the  edict  on  May  8,  1521,  i. 
e.,  on  the  day  when  the  treaty  with  the  Pope  was  signed, 
though  it  was  not  really  signed  till  some  days  after,  and 
in  the  meantime  the  Elector  of  Saxony  had  left. 

The  secretary  of  Charles  V.,  Valdez,  a  friend  of  Eras- 
mus, writing  from  Worms  on  May  13,  1521,  to  a  Spanish 
correspondent,  concludes  his  letter  with  these  remarka- 
ble words : 

'  Here  you  have,  as  some  imagine,  the  end  of  this  tragedy,  but  I 
am  persuaded  it  is  not  the  end  but  the  beginning  of  it.     For  I 
perceive  the  minds  of  the  Germans  are  greatly  exas- 
perated against  the   Romish  See,  and  they  do  not    Valdez  the 
seem  to  attach  much  importance  to  the  Emperor's    Emperor's 
edicts ;  for  since  their  publication,  Luther's  books 
are  sold  with  impunity  at  every  step  and  comer  of  the  streets  and 
market-places.     From  this  you  vi^ill  easily  guess  what  will  happen 
when  the  Emperor  leaves. 

'  This  evil  might  have  been  cured  with  the  greatest  advantage  to 
the  Christian  Republic,  had  not  the  Pontiff  refused  a  general 
council,  had  he  preferred  the  public  weal  to  his  own  private  inter- 
ests. But  while  he  insists  that  Luther  shall  be  condemned  and 
burned,  I  see  the  whole  Christian  Republic  hurried  to  destruction 
unless  God  himself  help  us.     Farewell.' 

The  secretary  of  Charles  V.  naturally  laid  all  the 
blame  on  the  Pope.  He  little  knew  how  much  his  mas- 
ter also  was  to  blame.  The  Elector  of  Saxony  was  not 
far  wrong  when  he  hinted  that  if  the  Pope  and  his  nun- 
cios were  acting  the  part  of  Annas  and  Caiaphas, 
Charles  V.  was  acting  the  part  of  Pilate  and  Herod. 

Let  us  try  to  unravel  the  entangled  skein  of  political 
motives  which  influenced  his  conduct  and  his  treaty 
with  the  Pope. 


132  The  Protestant  Revolution.  pt.  ii. 

[f]  Political  reasons  for  the  decision  at  Worms. 

We  have  seen  how  the  great  continental  struggle  had 
long  been  between  France  and  Spain,  and  how  Italy- 
was  the  battle-field ;    how  both   claimed    Naples   and 
Milan  ;  how  France  had  been  the  first  to  invade  Italy ; 
how  France  and  Spain  at  one  time  agreed 

Rivalshipbe-  ,  ^r       1        1  ,  1  x- 

tween  Spain  to  share  Naples  between  them  ;  how  France 
got  Milan,  and  then,  after  the  two  had  quar- 
relled over  the  prey,  Spain  got  Naples ;  how  then  they 
had  joined  again  with  the  Pope  and  Germany  in  the 
league  of  Cambray  against  Venice  ;  and  how,  lastly,  the 
robbers  quarrelling  again  over  the  spoil,  the  Pope  united 
Spain,  Germany,  and  England  with  himself  in  a  holy 
league  to  drive  France  out  of  Italy,  and  so  France  again 
lost  Milan.  Then  came  the  succession  of  young  Francis 
I.  to  the  throne  of  France,  his  boast  thit  he  would  make 
France  the  master  of  Europe,  as  she  was  wont  to  be,  his 
brilliant  campaign  of  151 5  in  which  he  gained  the  battle 
of  Marignano  against  the  Swiss,  and  soon  after  recovered 
Milan.  Then  came  the  struggle  for  the  Empire,  and 
the  beginning  of  the  ascendancy  of  Spain  in  Europe  by 
Charles  V.'s  accession  to  the  German  throne. 

In  the  political  combinations  which  followed,  it  was 
the  fate  of  Francis  to  be  left  out  in  the  cold.  Leo  X. 
,     .         ,       was  anxious  to  league  himself  in  close  alli- 

Intrigues  of  . 

princes.  ance  with  Charles  V.,  and  by  his  aid   to 

France  the         drive  the  French  out  of  Italy.     Henry  VIII. 
common  ^^,         jg^   exceedingly   anxious   to   form    a 

enemy  or  the  o   j 

Pope  Spain       closc   alliance   with   Charles  V.     His   mar- 

and  England.  ,  i        •  r  a 

riage  with  Charles  aunt,  Cathenne  of  Arra- 
gon,  was  already  a  link  between  England  and  Spain. 
Henry  wanted  to  bring  about  another  by  a  contract  of 
marriage  between  Charles  V.  and   the   young  Princess 


CH.  IV.      Tlie  Crisis — Reform  or  Revolution.  133 

(afterwards  queen)  Mary,  although  she  was  already  en- 
gaged to  the  Dauphin  of  France.  Charles  V.,  in  his 
turn  was  equally  anxious  to  form  such  alliances  as  would 
strengthen  his  position  against  France.  He  was  jealous 
of  the  conquests  of  Francis  I.  in  Italy,  and  as  Emperor 
of  Germany  considered  himself  entitled  to  Milan,  which 
Francis  had  conquered.  An  alliance,  therefore,  with 
the  Pope  and  England  against  France  was  most  to  his 
purpose,  but  it  did  not  suit  his  purpose  that  Henry  VIII. 
should  know  it. 

All  the  princes  were  playing  a  double  game  and  trying 
to  outwit  one  another.  Henry  coquetted  with  Francis  in 
order  to  make  Charles  fall  in  with  his  wishes  out  of  jea- 
lousy. Charles  was  coquetting  both  with  France  and 
England,  proposing  marriage  with  a  French  princess 
while  he  was  negotiating  with  Henry  respecting  the  Prin- 
cess Mary,  and  worst  of  all,  while  he  really  intended  to 
marry  the  Infanta  of  Portugal.  He  cared  far  more  for 
Spain  than  he  did  for  Germany,  and  by  this  match  he 
hoped  to  unite  some  day  Portugal  and  Spain.  Henry 
VIII.  devised  an  interview  with  Francis.  Charles  was 
jealous  and  came  over  to  England.  After  this  meeting 
with  Charles,  Henry  embarked  for  France,  and  met  Fran- 
cis on  what,  from  the  grandeur  of  the  preparations,  was 
called  the  '  Field  of  the  Cloth  of  Gold.'  Immediately 
afterwards  he  again  met  Charles  at  Gravelines,  and  did 
his  best  to  secure  his  object  with  Charles  while  he  kept 
f>ancis  in  the  dark.  But  Charles  chose  a  little  longer  to 
play  fast  and  loose. 

In  the  meantime  the  Pope  also  was  playing  a  double 
game.  Whether  to  ally  himself  with  Francis,  who  was 
preparing  his  army  for  another  descent  upon  Italy,  or 
with  Charles  V.  and  Henry  VIII.  against  Francis,  he 
kept  an  open  question,  though  his  preference  was  for  the 


134  The  Protestant  Revolution.  pt.  ll. 

latter  plan,  if  only  he  could  bring  Charles  V.  to  his 
terms  ;  the  chief  of  them  being  that  Charles  should  help 
him  to  put  down  the  heretic  Luther. 

The  course  which  things  took  at  the  Diet  of  Worms 
was  ruled  by  these  political  intrigues. 

The  papal  party  triumphed.  The  Emperor,  as  we 
have  seen,  concluded  an  alliance  on  May  8  with  the  Pope 
against  France  and  against  Luther. 

The  consequence  was  that  Europe  was  to  be  given 
over  once  more  to  the  ambitions  and  wars  of  its  rival 
„  ,  princes.    All  chances  of  reform,  for  the  pre- 

Reform  re-  ^ 

fused  by  Sent,  were  gone.     The  Diet  of  \\  orms  came 

powers"roin  to  an  end  without  having  accomplished  the 
motiv^ef  work   which    Germany    expected    from    it. 

Worst  of  all,  the  Emperor,  instead  of  siding 
with  Germany  against  the  Pope,  had  chosen  for  his  pri- 
vate purposes  to  side  with  the  Pope  against  Germany. 

It  is  true  a  council  of  regency  had  been  established, 
with  the  Elector  of  Saxony  at  its  head,  to  manage  the 
affairs  of  the  Empire  while  the  Emperor  was  busied  with 
quelling  a  rebellion  in  Spain,  and  with  his  wars  in  Italy. 
But  no  decisive  steps  had  been  taken  to  stop  those  private 
wars  which  were  the  curse  of  Germany,  and  of  wh'ich  the 
cities  so  bitterly  complained.  No  decisive  steps  had  been 
taken  to  remedy  the  ecclesiastical  grievances  of  which 
the  princes  complained.  The  grievances  of  the  much 
enduring  peasantry  had  not  even  been  talked  of.  And 
as  the  worst  sign  of  the  times,  Luther  had  been  con- 
demned by  both  Pope  and  Emperor. 

The  fears  of  Erasmus  were  fulfilled,  and  his  bitter 
words  justified  by  the  result.  'Ecclesiastical  hypocrites 
reign  in  the  courts  of  princes  .  .  .  The  Pope  and  Prin- 
ces treat  the  people  as  cattle  in  the  market.' 

The  reform,  both  of  the  Oxford  and  of  the  Wittenberg 


CH.  V.  Revolution.  135 

Reformers,   had  been   refused    by   the   ruUng   powers. 
There  was  nothing  left  but  revolution. 


CHAPTER  V. 

REVOLUTION. 

{a)    The  Prophets  of  Revolution  {1522). 

The  edict  of  the  Emperor  issued  at  the  Diet  of  Worms 
was  published  all  over  Germany.  But  the  papal  party 
were  astonished  to  find  how  very  little  peo-    ^     ,     .  , 

Popular  teel- 

ple  thought  of  it.  The  Germans  thought  a  ing  against  the 
great  deal  more  of  the  bold  conduct  of  Lu- 
ther. So  that  the  end  of  it  was  that  the  edict  was  treated 
with  very  much  the  same  neglect  as  the  Pope's  Bull. 
Luther's  books  were  burned  in  some  places  under  the 
eye  of  the  Emperor,  Everywhere  else  they  were  read  all 
the  more. 

And  another  thing  happened  which  the  papal  party 
had  not  foreseen.  They  had  for  the  moment  silenced 
Luther.  He  was  safe  in  the  castle  of  the  Luther  in  the 
Wartburg,  and  silent,  too,  albeit  he  was  Wanburg. 
hard  at  work  at  what  would  do  more  to  spread  the  spirit 
of  reform  than  anything  else,  viz.  translating  the  Bible 
into  the  mother  tongue  of  the  Fatherland. 

Meanwhile  the  absence  of  Luther  from  his  wonted 
place  at  Wittenberg  did  not  take  away  the  firebrand  as 
they  thought  it  would,  but  put  it  in  the  hands    ,   , .     ^ 

.     '  °  - -'-    J.       -  In  his  absence 

of  the  mob.     In   Luther's  absence    wilder   wilder  spirits 
spirits  came  to  the  top.     Monks  left  the  con- 
vents and  went  to   trades.      Under    the  leadership  of 
Carlstadt,  the  form  of  public  worship  was  changed.     Ex- 
cited and  half-crazy  men,  carried  away  by  their  zeal,  set 


136  The  Protestant  Revolution,  pt.  11, 

themselves  up  as  prophets  and  preached  strange  doc- 
trines. 

At  Zwickau,  under  the  range  of  the  Erzgebirge,  south 
of  Wittenberg,  near  Bohemia,  hved  a  weaver  of  the 
name  of  Claus  Starch.  He  and  some  of  his  comrades 
fancied  they  were  inspired.  They  mistook  their  own  ex- 
cited imaginations  for  messages  from 
of  Zwickau^'^  heaven.  They  wanted  no  priests,  for  they 
were  themselves  prophets,  no  Bible,  for  they 
were  themselves  inspired,  and  they  went  about  preach- 
ing violent  changes,  and  exciting  the  crowds  who  lis- 
tened to  them  to  violent  deeds. 

Driven  away  from  Zwickau  by  the  authorities,  some  of 
them  came  to  Wittenberg,  where  the  people  were  already 
making  great  changes  under  the  leadership  of  Carlstadt. 
Carlstadt  was  carried  away  by  their  zeal,  and  so  were  the 
people.  Riots  were  raised.  People  went  about  smash- 
ing the  images  in  the  churches,  and  even  Melanchthon, 
in  Luther's  absence,  was  half  inclined  to  believe  in  the 
prophets,  though  they  preached  the  uselessness  of  learn- 
ing and  universities. 

These  things  came  to  the  ear  of  Luther  in  his  retreat 
at  the  Wartburg.  He  at  once  saw  how  all  this  delusion 
T    ,  and  madness  would  injure  the  cause  of  the 

Luther  comes  ■' 

back  to  Wit-  Reformation.  At  the  risk  of  his  Hfe  he  left 
his  place  of  concealment.  He  suddenly  ap- 
peared at  Wittenberg  in  his  old  pulpit.  He  entreated 
his  old  flock  to  calm  their  excitement ;  and  not  without 
avail.  After  ten  months'  absence,  the  familiar  sound  of 
his  voice  soothed  their  passions.  They  recognized  him 
once  more  as  their  leader. 

The  prophets  came  to  visit  him — and  this  is  a  proof 
of  their  sincerity — expecting  him  at  once  to  admit  their 
claims.     Luther  did  not  doubt  that  they  were  inspired, 


CH.  V.  Revolution.  137 

but  warned  them  lest  their  inspiration  should  ^^^  confronts 
come  from  Spirits  of  Evil.  One  of  them,  the  prophets. 
with  the  voice  and  tones  of  an  enthusiast,  stamping 
his  feet,  and  striking  his  hands  on  the  table,  gave  vent 
to  his  horror  at  the  suggestion  ;  and  then,  gathering 
up  his  dignity,  in  a  tone  which  almost  shook  the  com- 
mon sense  of  Luther,  said  solemnly,  '  That  thou  mayst 
know,  O  Luther,  that  I  am  inspired  by  the  Spirit  of  God, 
I  will  tell  thee  what  is  passing  in  thy  mind.'  And  then  as 
Luther,  really  for  the  moment  half  carried  away  by  his 
impressive  manner,  was  beginning  to  waver,  '  It  is'  (he 
added),  'That  thou  art  ready  to  think  that  my  doctrine 
is  true.'  To  which  Luther,  suddenly  re-  His  common 
covering  himself  replied,  '  The  Lord  rebuke  ^'^"^^  prevails. 
thee,  Satan  !  The  God  whom  I  worship  will  soon  put  a 
stop  to  your  spirits.'  And  with  these  parting  words  he 
dismissed  the  prophets  of  Zwickau. 

Order  was  restored  at  Wittenberg.  The  Scriptures 
were  again  acknowledged  as  the  rule  of  faith,  and  be- 
fore the  end  of  the  year  the  New  Testa-    ^, 

■'  The  prophets 

ment  was  published  in  the  German  tongue,    driven  from 
The  Lutheran  Reformation  was  severed  for       '  ''"  "^' 
ever  from   the   wilder  reforms   of    Carlstadt    and    the 
prophets  of  Zwickau  ;  and  the  latter  were  soon  driven 
from   Wittenberg,   to    spread    their   doctrines   in   other 
places  where  there  was  no  Luther  to  withstand  them. 

One  of  the  disciples  of  Storch  at  Zwickau  was  Munzer, 
but  instead  of  going  to  Wittenberg,  he  went 
first  into  Bohemia,  and  then  all  over  that   becomes  the 
part  of  Germany  where  Joss  Fritz  had  been.    of°{Je 
He  became  very  soon  the  prophet  of    the    P<=^s=^"tO'- 
peasantry. 

We  must  look  even  upon  Miinzer  as  honest  and 
sincere,  though  wild.     He  thought  himself  inspired,  and 


138  The  Protcsfa77f  Revolution.  pt.  ii. 

preached  like  a  prophet.  Along  with  many  reforms 
which  Luther  also  urged,  he  claimed  for  the  people  the 
right  of  having  divine  worship  performed  in  their  own 
language  instead  of  in  the  Latin  of  the  priests.  He 
preached  a  crusade  against  all  who  opposed  the  gospel, 
and  urged  a  resort  to  the  sword  if  preaching  would  not 
do.  Driven  from  city  to  city,  he  went  more  and  more 
among  the  peasants;  and  who  shall  blame  him  if  he 
took  up  their  grievances  ?  Was  it  not  natural  ?  His 
own  father,  it  is  said,  had  fallen  a  victim  to  a  quarrel 
with  his  feudal  lord.  He  began  to  think  himself  the 
chosen  messenger  of  heaven  to  avenge  their  wrongs ; 
and  as  he  preached  from  place  to  place  amongst  the 
peasantry,  and  others  like  him  followed  in  his  track,  it 
was  not  strange  if  it  stirred  up  again  in  the  minds  of  the 
disciples  of  Joss  Fritz  recollections  of  the  days  of  the 
Btindschuh. 

{b)  The  end  of  Sickingeti  and  Hutteti ,  (1523). 
The  council  of  regency  appointed  at  the  Diet  of 
Worms  to  represent  the  Empire  during  the  Emperor's 
absence  in  Spain  (whither  he  had  gone  to  quell  a  rebel- 
lion of  his  subjects)  was  made  up  of  princes  who  had 
more  or  less  sympathy  with  Luther. 

Frederic  of  Saxony  was  at  the  head  of  it.     It  was  the 

nearest  approach  to  a  central    government  which  had 

been  formed.      It  was  thoroughly  German 

The  Council  ...  .   .  ,  ,  , 

of  Regency  and  national  m  spirit,  and  aimed  at  tho- 
Electorcf  roughly  national  objects.     It  aimed  not  at 

Saxony  carrvine  out  the  edict  against  Luther,  but  at 

strives  to  -'       o  ° 

avert  the  obtaining  from  future  diets   those   reforms 

which  had  been  refused  at  Worms.  It 
aimed  at  putting  down  private  wars  and  the  establish- 
ment of  public  peace. 


cii.  V.  Revolution.  139 

But  it  had  no  power  at  its  back  to  carry  out  its  inten- 
tions. Its  efforts  to  obtain  something  hke  union  among 
the  powers  of  Germany  in  the  work  of  reform  were 
fruitless ;  and  so  were  its  efforts  to  put  down  private 
wars. 

Knights  hke  Franz  von  Sickingen  saw  in  it  an  attempt 
of  the  princes  to  put  down  the  influence  of  their  order. 
Its  attempt  to  obtain  the  means  to  pay  for  national  ob- 
jects by  a  system  of  customs — duties  on  luxuries  im- 
ported   into   Germany    from    abroad — was   , 

"■  but  meets 

taken  by  the  merchants  of  the  towns  to  be   with  oppo- 
an  invasion  of  their  rights.     So  it  was  un- 
popular   and    powerless,    though    its    intentions    were 
good. 

Its  powerlessness  to  preserve  the  public  peace  was 
soon  shown  in  a  great  private  war  which  was  waged  by 
Franz  von  Sickingen  in  i  ^22-^  against  the    J"""^"^  '^°" 

*=  -^  .  ,     Sickingen 

Archbishop  of  Treves.    The  knight  besieged   takes  to  the 
Treves  with  his  army  of  5,000  foot-soldiers  ' 

and  1,500  knights,  and  declared  that  he  came  to  bring 
the  people  freedom  from  the  Pope  and  priests,  and  to 
punish  the  archbishop  for  his  sins  against  God  and  the 
Emperor. 

What  could  be  a  stronger  example  to  the  peasantry 
to  take  to  the  sword  than  such  an  act  of  the  popular 
knight ! 

He  counted  upon  the  people  of  the  town  aiding  him 
from  within  the  walls,  but  was  disappointed.  The  city 
held  out  till  some  neighbouring  princes  came  to  its  rescue 
with  an  army  of  30,000  men.  On  their  approach,  Franz 
retired  to  his  castle  of  Landshut,  there  not  being  time  to 
reach  that  of  Ebernburg.  There  he  was  himself  be- 
sieged. The  cannon  of  the  princes  were  powerful  enough 
to  batter  down  the  solid  walls,  which   before  the  use  of 


J40  Tiie  Protestant  Revolution.  PT.  ii. 

,    artillery  would  have  been  impregnable.     He 

but  IS  defeated    ,     ,  ,       "^     ,  ,         .,,         ,  ,., 

and  killed.  held  out  for  months,  till  at  last  a  solid  tower 
fell  into  a  heap  of  ruins,  and  a  breach  was 
made  in  the  walls.  Franz  himself  was  wounded  and 
dying  when  his  conquerors  entered  the  castle.  They 
upbraided  him  for  disturbing  the  peace  of  the  Empire. 
'  I  am  going,'  he  said,  as  he  lay  upon  the  floor,  dying, 
,   ,     ,     '  to  render  an  account  to  a  greater  than  the 

Huttens  death.  ,  •       j        tt- 

Emperor;'  and  soon  after  he  expired.  His 
friend  Hutten  died  in  the  same  year,  while  trying  to  urge 
other  knights  to  aid  Sickingen,  and  this  was  the  end  of 
the  knights  of  Ebernburg  Castle. 

They  had  threatened  to  reform  the  Empire  by  the 
sword.  The  peasantry  had  looked  to  them  as  their  best 
knightly  friends.  They  had  done  much  by  their  pens 
and  swords,  their  voice  and  example,  to  stir  up  warlike 
„,  feeling  among  the  peasantry,  but  their  end 

The  peasantry  °  or  j  • 

got  nothing        came  before  the  peasants  had  got  any  help 
knights.  from  them.     In  the  meantime  it  was  also 

clear  that  the  council  of  regency  was  unable 
to  preserve  the  public  peace,  as  well  as  to  bring  about 
the  needed  reform. 

If  help  was  to  come  neither  from  the  Emperor  and  the 
council  of  regency,  nor  from  the  knights,  where  were  the 
peasantry  to  turn  next?  Was  not  the  time  ripe  for 
rebellion  ? 

[c]  The  Peasa?its'  J  Far  (1525). 
We  must  turn  again  to  the  map  on  which  are  marked 
the  districts  where  lay  the  smouldering  embers  of  the 
Btmdschuh,  waiting  only  for  the  match  to  light  them  up 
again.  On  the  opposite  map  are  marked  the  districts  in 
which,  one  after  another,  the  explosions  came.  The 
connexion     between    the   two   maps  will   be   seen  at  a 


CH.  V.  Revolutio7i.  141 

glance.  Joss  Fritz  had  kept  the  embers  ahve  by  his  se- 
cret work  in  Swabia.  The  expulsion  of  Carlstadt  from 
Wittenberg  had  sent  him  into  the  towns  on  the  Rhine 
and  in  Franconia  to  stir  up  discontent  and  a  spirit  of  re- 
bellion, not  only  against  Rome,  the  priests  and  monks, 
but  also  against  Luther,  through  whose  in-    ^   ,     , 

1,1,  ,     ,  ■      ,     Carlstadt  and 

riuence  he  had  been  expelled.     Miinzer  had    Miinzerstirup 
been  driven  from  city  to  city,  and  thence 
into   Southern   Germany,   to   carry   on   the 
work  of  stirring  up  rebeUion. 

The  train  was  indeed  laid,  and  in  November,  1524, 
the  match  was  put  to  it  in  the  very  places  where  it 
was  laid  the  deepest.  The  match  was  a  little  thing. 
The  much-enduring  peasantry  of  Swabia,  and  most  of 
all,  those  about  the  Boden  See  (Lake  Constance)  needed 
but  thelast  straw  to  break  the  back  of  their  endurance. 
It  was  a  holiday,  and  the  peasants  on  the  estates  of  the 
Count  von  Liipfen  were  resting  at  home  or  taking  the 
day  for  work  on  their  own  land.  Orders  came  from  the 
Count  that  they  should  turn  out  and  gather 
snail-shells  for  the  folk  at  the  Castle.  It  was  ofthe  peasant- 
the  very  littleness  of  the-  thing  which  made  "^  '"  S^^^'^- 
it  so  unbearable.  They  rose  up  in  arms,  and  so  did 
their  neighbours  in  the  valleys  round.  Soon  all  Swabia 
was  in  insurrection. 

The  council  of  regency  sent  ambassadors  to  mediate 
between  the  peasants  and  their  lords  of  the  Swabian 
League.  But  it  was  of  no  use.  They  had  not  power  to 
keep  the  public  peace.  Neither  party  listened  to  them. 
The  peasants  put  forth  twelve  articles  in  which  they 
stated  their  demands.  Here,  in  brief,  is  a  list  of 
them.  A  mere  glance  will  show  that  they  were  the  old 
demands  of  the  days  of  the  BuiidschuJi,  with  a  few 
additions. 


142  The  Protestant  Revolution.  pt.  ii. 

vi>  The  right  to  choose  their  own  pastors. 

'5i  They  would  pay  tithe  of  corn,  out  of  which  the  pastors 

should  be  paid,  the  rest  going  to  the  use  of  the 
Their  twelve  parish. — But  small  tithes,  i.e.,  of  the  pro- 
articles,  duce  of  animals,  every  tenth  calf,  or  pig,  or 

&%%,  and  so  on,  they  would  not  pay. 

3.  They  would  be  free,  and  no  longer  serfs  and  bondmen. 

4.  Wild  game  and  fish  to  be  free  to  all. 

5.  Woods  and  forests  to  belong  to  all  for  fuel. 

6.  No  services  of  labour  to  be  more  than  were  required 

of  their  forefathers. 

7.  If  more  service  required,  wages  must  be  paid  for  it. 

8.  Rent,  when  above  the  value  of  the  land,  to  be  prop- 

erly valued  and  lowered. 
9.  Punishments  for  crimes  to  be  fixed. 

10.  Common  land  to  be  again  given  up  to  common  use. 

11.  Death  gifts  (/.  c,  the  right  of  the  lord  to  take  the  best 

chattel  of  the  deceased  tenant)   to  be  done  away 
with. 

12.  Any  of  these  articles  proved  to  be  contrary  to  the 

Scriptures  or  God's  justice,  to  be  null  and  void. 
From  this  list  of  most  substantial  grievances  we  may 
well  gather  what  the  peasants  were  aiming  at.     We  see 
Not  likely  to      ^ow  they  aimed,  like  simple  men,  at  the  re- 
be  granted  by     moval  of  the  practical  grievances  and  hard- 

eitner  rope,  "^  '^ 

nobles,  or  ships  of  their  life.     But  their  demands  were 

not  at  all  likely  to  be  granted.  For  instance, 
if  they  had  the  choice  of  pastors  they  would  choose  men 
like  Miinzer,  and  Carlstadt,  and  Storch,  and  perhaps 
even  wilder  spirits  than  these,  so  that  neither  the  Pope 
nor  Luther  would  be  likely  to  concede  that  demand. 
Nor,  of  course,  would  the  proud  feudal  lords  like  to  lose 
their  game  and  the  forced  labour  of  their  serfs,  and  to 
meet  their  peasants  on  equal  terms  as  free  men,  any  more 


CH.  V.  Revolution.  143 

than  the  slave-holders  of  America  liked  to  have  slavery- 
abolished.  We  may  guess,  too,  how  the  ecclesiastics 
would  tremble  to  hear  of  their  small  tithes  being  taken 
away,  and  other  pastors  being  chosen  instead  of 
themselves. 

Had  the  feudal  lords  granted  proper  and  fair  reforms 
long  ago,  they  would  never  have  heard  of  these  twelve 
articles.  But  they  had  refused  reform,  and  they  now  had 
to  meet  revolution.  And  they  knew  of  but  one  way  of 
meeting  it,  namely,  by  the  sword. 

The  lords  of  the  Swabian  League  sent  their  army  of 
foot   and    horsemen   under    their    captain,    swabian 
George  Truchsess.    The  poor  peasants  could   peasants 
not  hold  out  against  trained  soldiers  and  cav-   April  1525. 
airy.     Two  battles  on  the  Danube,  in  which  thousands 
of  peasants  were  slain,  or  drowned  in  the  river,  and  a 
third  equally  bloody  one  in  Algau,  near  the  Boden  See, 
crushed  this  rebellion  in  Swabia,  as  former  rebellions 
had  so  often  been  crushed  before.     This  was  early  in 
April  1525. 

But  in  the  meantime  the  revolution  had  spread  further 
north.     In  the  valley  of  the  Neckar  a  body  of  6,000 
peasants  had  come  together,  enraged  by  the  news  of  the 
slaughter  of  thei^  fello\y  peasants  in  the  south  of  Swabia. 
The  young  Count  von  Helfenstein,  a  friend  of  the  Arch- 
duke Ferdinand,  who  had  married  a  natural  daughter  of 
the  late  Emperor  Maximilian,  lived  at  the  castle  in  the 
town  of  Weinsberg,  in  this  district.    He  seems  to  have  so 
far  lost  his  head  in  these  days  of  terror  as  to  have  cut  the 
throats  of  some  peasants  who  met  him  on 
the  road.  This  enraged  them  the  more.    The    on  the 
town  and  castle  were  stormed  and  taken  by    April"' 
the  peasants,  under  their  leaders,  Florian    "525- 
Geyer,  Wendel  Hipler,  and  Little  Jack  Rohrbach.    The 


144  The  Protestant  Revolution.  pt.  ii. 

Count  offered  a  large  sum  of  money  for  a  ransom,  but 
the  stern  reply  of  the  peasants  was,  '  he  must  die  though 
he  were  made  of  gold.' 

While  the  peasants  were  plundering  the  castle,  the 
monastery,  and  the  houses  of  the  priests,  the  leaders 
held  a  council.  Hipler  advised  moderation.  He  hoped 
that  the  smaller  lords  would,  after  all,  side  with  the  pea- 
sants. But  Little  Jack  was  a  man  of  another  kind.  In 
the  dead  of  night  he  held  a  council  of  his  own,  and 
doomed  every  knight  and  noble  in  Weinsberg  to  imme- 
diate death.  As  day  was  breaking  the  Count  and  other 
noble  prisoners  were  led  forth,  surrounded  by  a  circle 
of  pikes  with  their  steel  points  inward.  The  tears  and 
pleadings  of  the  Countess,  with  her  babe  in  her  arms, 
availed  nothing.  The  peasants  stood  in  two  opposite 
ranks,  with  a  passage  between  the  points  of  their  pikes. 
A  piper  of  the  Count  mockingly  led  the  way,  inviting 
his  late  master  to  follow  on  a  dance  of  death.  The 
Count  and  nobles  were  compelled  to  follow.  The  ranks 
closed  upon  them,  and  they  were  soon  pierced  to  death. 
A  wild  peasant  woman  stuck  her  knife  into  the  Count's 
body,  and  smeared  herself  with  blood.  And  so,  un- 
^,  ,    known  to  the  other  leaders  and  to  the  mas- 

The  peasants  •    i  i     »  i 

revenge  for  scs  of  the  peasantry,  '  Little  Jack,  on  that 
slaughter.  terrible  morning,  had  revenged  the  thou- 

sands of  his  comrades  slain  by  the  Swabian 
lords,  blood  for  blood. 

A  yell  of  horror  was  raised  through  Germany  at  the 
news  of  the  peasants'  revenge.  No  yell  had  risen  when 
the  Count  cut  peasants'  throats,  or  the  Swabian  lords 
slew  thousands  of  peasant  rebels.  Europe  had  not  yet 
learned  to  mete  out  the  same  measure  of  justice  to  noble 
and  common  blood.  But  the  eye  of  history  cannot  so  be 
blinded.     It   records  that   about   a  month  after,  Truch- 


CH.  V.  Revolution.  145 

sess,   the  captain   of  the  Swabian  League,   „,         ,.    . 

^  r  o  ■pjjg  retaliation 

came  northwards,  and  fell  upon  this  band  of  the  nobles, 
of  peasants  with  his  more  disciplined  sol-  ^^  ^^^^' 
diers  and  horsemen.  One  night,  after  a  bloody  battle, 
*  in  which  several  thousand  peasants  were  slain,  the  piper 
of  Weinsberg  was  recognized  amongst  the  prisoners — he 
who  had  piped  to  the  dance  of  death  at  the  murder  of  the 
Count  von  Helfenstein.  Truchsess  and  the  new  Count 
von  Helfenstein,  who  was  with  him,  had  him  fastened 
with  an  iron  chain  about  two  feet  long  to  an  apple  tree. 
With  their  own  hands  they  and  other  nobles  helped  to 
build  up  a  circular  pile  of  wood  round  their  victim,  and 
then  they  set  fire  to  the  pile.  It  was  night ;  and  amid 
the  groans  of  wounded  and  dying  peasants  on  the  battle- 
field around  them,  and  the  drunken  revelry  of  the  camp, 
was  heard  the  laughter  of  these  nobles  as  they  watched 
their  victim  springing  shrieking  from  point  to  point  of  the 
fiery  circle  within  which  he  was  slowly  roasted  to  death. 
Such  was  the  revenge  of  nobles  upon  peasants. 

But  the  revolution  spread,  and  the  reign  of  teiTor 
spread  with  it.  North  and  east  of  the  valley  of  the 
Neckar,  among  the  little  towns  of  Franconia, 

1-1  1,  /-    1       -VT    •  1        ,  1       Insurrection  in 

and  m  the  valleys  01  the  Mame,  other  bands  Franconia. 
of  peasants,  mustering  by  thousands,  de- 
stroyed alike  cloisters  and  castles.  Two  hundred  of 
these  lighted  the  night  with  their  flames  during  the  few 
weeks  of  their  temporary  triumph.  And  here  another 
feature  of  the  revolution  became  prominent.  The  little 
towns  were  already,  under  the  preaching  of  Carlstadt 
and  such  as  he,  passing  through  an  internal    „      ,    .     . 

.  Revolution  in 

revolution.     The  artisans  were  rising  against   the  towns  of 
the  wealthier  burghers,  overturning  the  town 
councils,  and  electing  committees  of  artisans  in   their 
place,  making  sudden  changes  in  religion,  putting  down 

L 


146  The  FrotesiaMt  Revolution.  pt.  11. 

the  Mass,  unfrocking  priests  and  monks,  and  in  fact,  in 
the  interests  of  what  they  thought  to  be  the  gospel,  turn- 
ing all  things  upside  down. 

A  few  extracts  from  the  diary  of  a  citizen  of  the  free 
imperial  fortified  town  of  Rothenburg,  on  the  Tauber,* 
may  serve  to  fix  on  the  mind  a  clear  impression  of  the 
Peasants'  War,  as  it  seemed  to  a  citizen  of  a  Franconian 
town  during  the  course  of  the  events  which  he  noted  in 
his  log-book  in  this  terrible  year  1525. 

March  19. — The  Carlstadt  sect  being  favoured  by 
citizen  of  ^'^^  magistrates,  Carlstadt  himself  came  to  Rothen- 

Rothenburg.        burg,  preached  here,  and  wanted  to  become  a  citizen. 

March  21. — Thirty  or  forty  peasants  bought  a  kettle-drum  and 
went  about  proudly,  insolently,  and  mischievously,  up  and  down 
the  city. 

March  23. — About  400  peasants  assembled. 

March  24. — All  citizens  were  called  to  the  Rathhaus  and  enjoined 
to  stand  by  the  honourable  council.  Only  twenty-six  do  so !  The 
rest  elect  a  committee  of  thirty-six.  Messengers  are  sent  to  the 
peasants  to  inquire  their  plans.  The  peasants  replied  that  they  were 
not  all  collected  yet.  Letters  come  from  Markgraf  Casimir,  and 
are  read  to  the  people,  offering  help,  and  to  come  in  person  to  make 
peace.  Some  of  the  people  treated  the  message  with  scorn  and 
laughter. 

This  evening,  between  five  and  six,  the  head  of  the  image  of 
Christ  on  the  Cross  is  struck  off,  the  arms  broken  and  the  pieces 
knocked  about  the  churchyard. 

March  25. — The  committee  of  thirty-six  frighten  the  council 
into  submission. 

March  26,  Sunday. — The  priest  driven  from  the  altar  and  his 
mass  book  thrown  down.  The  peasants  deploy  themselves  before 
the  Galgen-thor. 

March  27. — The  priest  insulted,  and  his  book  thrown  down 
whilst  performing  mass. 

March  28. — 700  peasants  assembled,  and  force  other  peasants  to 
join  them. 


CH.  V.  Revolution.  147 

2Iarch  31. — The  peasants  have  increased  to  2,000.  Lorenz 
Knobloch  having  promised  to  be  a  captain,  has  gone  out  to  them. 
Messengers  from  the  Imperial  Council  came  to  make  peace,  but 
without  result. 

April  4. — The  oil  lamps  thrown  down  during  the  sermon.  The 
peasants  go  about  plundering  cupboards  and  cellars. 

April  8,  Good  Friday. — The  service  done  away.  No  one  sang 
or  read.  But  Dr.  Drechsel  preached  against  emperor,  king,  princes 
and  lords,  spiritual  and  temporal,  for  hindering  the  word  of 
God. 

April  10,  Easter  Day. — Hans  Rothfuchs  called  the  sacrament 
idolatr)'.     No  service. 

April  11. — Dr  Carlstadt  preached  against  the  sacrament.  At 
night  the  Kupferzell  (cloister)  sacked  by  some  millers,  and  tables 
and  pictures  thrown  into  the  Tauber. 

April  12. — Declarations  made  that  priests  may  marry. 

April  13. — Dr.  Carlstadt  preached  again  against  the  sacraments 
and  ceremonies. 

April  14. — Some  women  run  up  and  down  the  streets  with  forks, 
pikes,  and  sticks,  making  a  row  and  declaring  that  they  will  plunder 
all  priests'  houses. 

April  15. — Priests  are  obliged  to  become  citizens  for  safely. 
Ever)'  citizen  to  give  a  gulden  towards  the  watch,  also  take  his  turn 
at  working  at  the  fortifications. 

April  18. — The  peasants  demand  200  men  and  100  long  spears, 
a  culverin,  heavy  field-pieces,  and  two  tents.  They  are  refused. 
The  peasants  reply  that  some  citizens  had  promised  help  ;  therefore 
they  now  demand  it. 

April  23. — The  peasants  are  told  they  shall  have  a  reply  in 
writing. 

April  28. — Com  given  out,  but  only  some  take  it.  Knobloch 
torn  to  pieces  by  the  peasants,  and  they  pelted  one  another  with  the 
pieces.  The  peasants  have  been  heard  to  say  that  they  would  soon 
see  what  the  Rothenburgers  were  going  to  do  !    , 

3Iay  1. — In  the  night  they  burned  the  cloister  of  E.,  plundered 
another,  and  burned  the  castle  of  C. 

May  8. — The  people  called  together  by  the  great  bell  in  the 
parish  church  to  hear  a  proposal  of  the  Markgraf  Casiniir  to  come 


148  The  Protestant  Revolution.  pt.  11. 

with  his  lady  and  jewels  to  Rothenburg;  and  on  the  other  hand  to 
consider  whether  to  send  to  the  peasantry  or  not. 

May  10. — Three  neighbouring  cities  have  gone  over  to  the  pea- 
sants. They  want  Rothenburg  to  join  them,  too.  At  6  o'clock 
people  are  called  together  again,  and  the  majority  decide  to  send 
artillery  and  spears  to  the  peasants. 

May  12. — More  monasteries  are  sacked.  Twelve  kilderkins  of 
wine  plundered  by  the  people  and  dnmk. 

May  15. — Florian  Geyer.  (one  of  the  peasants'  leaders)  in  the 
parish  church  proposes  articles  of  alliance  with  the  peasants  for  loi 
years.  Demanded  that  the  committee  and  people  should  by  oath 
and  vow  league  themselves  with  the  peasants.  Which  was  done, 
although  against  the  grain  to  some.  Thus  to-day  Rothenburg  has 
gone  over  from  the  Empire  to  the  peasants !  A  gallows  was  erected 
in  the  market-place  in  token  of  this  brotherhood,  and  as  a  terror  to 
evil-doers.  About  5  o'clock  tents,  wagons,  powder  are  got  ready 
and  taken  to  the  camp  of  the  peasants,  with  intent  to  storm  the 
castle  of  Wurtzburg. 

300  peasants  who  went  up  on  May  9  to  storm  the  castle  of 
Wurtzburg  were  all  killed,  part  by  the  stones,  part  shot,  part  slain 
— taken  like  birds !     (So  the  castle  still  held  out.) 

Casimir  of  Brandenburg  is  marching  with  forces  to  chastise  the 
peasants. 

3Iay  19. — He  bums  four  towns.  Four  peasants  at  L.  are 
beheaded  and  seven  have  their  fingers  cut  off.  At  N.  eighteen 
citizens  beheaded. 

May  27. — 4,000  peasants  are  .slain  in  the  valley  of  the  Tauber  by 
the  allied  powers.  (The  combined  forces  of  the  nobles  were  now 
joined  by  Truchsess,  who  had  been  victorious  over  the  Swabian 
peasants.) 

May  29. — 8,000  more  peasants  slain  by  the  allies.  Three  mes- 
sengers are  sent  from  Rothenburg  to  Markgraf  Casimir,  carrying  a 
red  cross  and  fervently  begging  for  mercy.  No  surrender  would 
be  accepted  but  on  '  mercy  or  no  mercy.'  All  citizens,  clergy  and 
laity,  to  pay  seven  florins  for  Blood  and  Fire  Money,  or  to  be 
banished  thirty  miles  out  of  the  city.  The  city  to  provide  some  tons 
of  powder. 

June  2. — Wurtzburg  retaken  by  the  Bund. 


CH.  V.  Revolution.  149 

June  24. — Mass  said  again,  after  thirteen  weeks'  interruption. 

June  29. — Markgraf  Casimir  came  to  Rothenburg  with  800 
horse,  1,000  foot,  200  wagons  well  equipped  with  the  best  artillery, 
which  are  placed  in  the  market-place. 

June  30. — All  citizens  called  by  herald  and  ordered  to  assemble 
in  the  market-place,  and  form  a  circle  under  guard  of  soldiers  with 
spears.  It  was  announced  that  the  Rothenburgers  had  revolted 
from  the  Empire  and  joined  the  peasants,  and  had  forfeited  life, 
honour,  and  goods.  The  Markgraf  and  many  nobles  were  present. 
Twelve  citizens  were  called  out  by  name,  and  beheaded  on  the  spot. 
Their  bodies  were  left  all  day  in  the  market-place.  Several  had 
fled  who  otherwise  would  have  been  beheaded, 

July  1. — Eight  more  beheaded. 

It  was  during  the  Franconian  rebellion  that  the  pea- 
sants chose  the  robber  knight  Goetz  von  Berlichingen  as 
their  leader.  It  did  them  no  good.  More  than  a  robber 
chief  was  needed  to  cope  with  soldiers  used  to  war.  The 
failure  of  the  Franconian  rebel  peasants  was  inevitable, 
and  the  wild  vigour  with  which  they  acted  in  the  mo- 
ments of  their  brief  power  did  but  add  to  the  cruelty 
with  which  they  were  crushed  and  punished  when  the 
tide  of  victory  turned  against  them. 

While  all  this  was  going  on  in  the  vallevs 

-   ,       -.    .  ,  ....  ,     ,'         Insurrection 

of  the  Mame,  the  revolution  had  crossed  the    in  Eisas.s  and 

Rhine  into  Elsass  and  Lothringen,  and  the   down'"May) 

Palatinate  about  Spires  and  Worms,  and  in    ^525, 

the  month  of  May  had  been  crushed  in  blood,  as  in 

Swabia  and  Franconia.     South  and  east,  in 

Bavaria,    m   the   Tyrol,  and    m    Carmthia   na,  the  I'yrol, 

also,  castles  and    monasteries   went    up  in 

flames,  and  then,  when  the  tide  of  victory  turned,  the 

burning  houses  and   farms   of    the  peasants  lit  up  the 

night  and  their  blood  flowed  freely. 

Meanwhile  MQnzer,  who  had  done  so  much  to  stir  up 


150  The  Protestant  Revolution.  pt.  ii. 

the  peasantry  in  the  south  to  rebel,  had  gone  north  into 
Thurintria,  and  headed  a  revolution  in  the 

Miinzer  heads  °   _,_,,  .    ,  ^ 

an  insurrection  town  01  Mulhausen,  and  became  a  sort  or 
inThuringia.  g^^onarola  of  a  madder  kind,  believing 
himself  inspired,  talking  of  his  visions,  uttering  prophe- 
cies, denouncing  vengeance  on  all  who  opposed  what  he 
believed  to  be  the  gospel.  He  exercised  over  the  citi- 
zens something  of  the  influence  that  Savonarola  had 
done  in  Florence.  His  intense  earnestness  carried  them 
away.  They  could  not  help  believing  in  him  and  re- 
garding him  with  awe.  For  a  while  the  rich  fed  the 
poor,  and  under  his  eye  there  was  almost  a  community 
of  goods.  But  Miinzer,  not  content  with  visions  and  his 
prophetic  office,  madly  appealed  to  the  sword.  When 
he  heard  of  the  revolution  in  Swabia,  he  seemed  to 
sniff  the  breeze  like  a  war-horse.  He  issued  a  proclama- 
tion to  the  peasantry  round  about : 

Arise  !  fight  the  battle  of  the  Lord  !  On  !  on  !  on  !  Now  is  the 
time ;  the  wicked  tremble  when  they  hear  of  you.  Be  pitiless ! 
Heed  not  the  groans  of  the  impious!  Rouse  up  the 
proclama-  towns  and  villages ;  above  all,  rouse  up  the   miners 

tion.  of  the  mountains  !     On !  on  !   on !  while  the  fire  is 

burning ;  on  while  the  hot  sword  is  yet  reeking  with  the  slaughter  ! 
Give  the  fire  no  time  to  go  out,  the  sword  no  time  to  cool !  Kill 
all  the  proud  ones :  while  one  of  them  lives  you  will  not  be  free  from 
the  fear  of  man  !  While  they  reign  over  you  it  is  no  use  to  talk  of 
God!  .  .  .  Amen. 

Given  at  Muhlhausen,  1525.  Thomas  Miinzer,  ser\ant  of  God 
against  the  wicked. 

These  were  some  of  the  words  which  Avere  meant  to 
wake  up  echoes  in  the  hearts  of  the  neighbouring  miners 
of  Mansfeld,  among  whom  the  kindred  of  Luther 
dwelt ! 

This  was  what  had  come  of  the  prophets  of  Zwickau 


CH.  VI.  Revolution.  151 

giving  up  their  common  sense  and  following  visions  and 
inspirations ! 

But  the  end  was  coming.  The  princes,  with  their  dis- 
ciplined troops,  came  nearer  and  nearer.  What  could 
Miinzer  do  with  his  8,000  peasants  ?  He  pointed  to  a 
rainbow  and  expected  a  miracle,  but  no  miracle  came. 
The  battle,  of  course,  was  lost.  5,000  peasants  lay  dead 
upon  the  field  near  the  little  town  of  Frankenhausen, 
where  it  was  fought. 

Miinzer  fled  and  concealed  himself  in  a  bed,  but  was 
found  and  taken  before  the  princes,  thrust   peath  of 
into  a  dungeon,  and  afterwards  beheaded.      Muuzer. 

So  ended  the  wild  career  of  this  misguided,  fanatical, 
self-deceived,  but  yet,  as  we  must  think,  earnest  and  in 
many  Avays  heroic  spirit.  We  may  well  believe  that  he 
was  maddened  by  the  wrongs  of  the  peasantry  into  what 
Luther  called  a  'spirit  of  confusion.' 

The  prince  and  nobles  now  everywhere  prevailed  over 
the  insurgent  peasants. 

Luther,  writing  on  June  21,  1525,  says: — 

'  It  is  a  certain  fact,  that  in  Franconia  11,000  peasants  have  been 
slain.  Markgraf  Casimir  is  cruelly  severe  upon  his  peasants,  who 
have  twice  broken  faith  with  him.  In  the  Duchy  of  Wurtemberg, 
6,000  have  been  killed  ;  in  different  places  in  Swabia,  10,000.  Jt  is 
said  that  in  Alsace  the  Duke  of  Lorraine  has  slain  20,000.  Thus 
everywhere  the  wretched  peasants  are  cut  down.' 

The  struggle  extended  into  Styria  and  Carinthia, 
w'nere  there  had  been  risings  before,  and  lingered  on 
longest  in  the  Tyrol.  It  was  not  till  Truchsess  was  aided 
by  the  General  George  Frundsberg,  the  old  general  who 
had  shaken  hands  with  Luther  in  the  Diet  of  Worms, 
that  victory  was  secured  to  the  higher  powers. 

Before  the  Peasants'  War  was  ended  at  least  100,000 


152  The  Protestant  Revohttio7i.  pt,  11. 

perished,  or  twenty  times  as  many  as  were  put  to  death 
in  Paris  during  the  Reign  of  Terror  in  1793. 

So  ended  the  peasants'  revolution.  For  two  hundred 
and  fifty  years  more  the  poor  German  peasantry  must 
bear  the  yoke  of  feudal  serfdom.  They  must  wait  till, 
in  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century,  German 
statesmen,  awakened  by  the  French  Revolution,  saw 
the  necessity  of  preventing  another  Peasants'  War  by 
granting  a  timely  reform. 

Luther,  throughout  the  Peasants'  War,  sided  with  the 

ruling  powers.     He  was  firm  as  a  rock  in  opposing  the 

.    ,        use  of  the   sword   against  the  civil  power. 

The  attitude  °  ^ 

of  Luther  The  reform  he  sought  was  by  means  of  the 

Peaslfnts''         civil  power ;  and  in  order  to  cle^r  himself 

■"•  and   his  cause  from  all  participation  in  the 

wild  doings  of  the  peasantry,  he  publicly  exhorted  the 
princes  to  crush  their  rebellion.  The  peasants  thought 
that  in  Luther  (himself  a  peasant)  they  should  have 
found  a  friend,  but  they  were  bitterly  disappointed.  He 
hounded  on  the  princes  in  their  work  of  blood. 

That  Luther  should  be  bitter  against  Miinzer  and  the 
wild  prophets  of  revolution  was  but  natural.  He  had 
seen  the  end  from  the  beginning ;  he  had  left  his  retreat 
in  the  Wartburg  four  years  before  to  quell  the  tumults 
at  Wittenberg.  Driven  out  of  Wittenberg  the  prophets 
had  become  madder  still.  No  doubt  Eurqjje  owed 
much  to  the  right-mindedness  of  Luther  in  setting  his 
face  against  a  resort  to  the  sword  in  the  cause  of  reli- 
gious reform.  Yet  one  cannot  sympathize  with  Luther's 
harsh  treatment  of  the  peasantry  and  their  misguided 
leaders^  It  cannot  be  denied  that  to  some  extent  this 
revolution  had  grown  up  from  the  dragon's  teeth  that  he 
himself  had  sown.  There  was  a  time  when  he  himself 
had  used  wild  language  and  done  wild  deeds.      Eras- 


CH.  V.  Revolution.  153 

mus  had  predicted  that  all  Europe  would  be  turned 
upside  down  in  a  universal  revolution  ;  and  had  it  not 
come  to  pass2  .  .The  monks  blamed  Erasmus  and  the 
new  learning  ;  Erasmus  blamed  the  wildness  of  Luther  ; 
Luther  blamed  the  wilder  prophets.     Who    „„ 

^      '^  who  was 

was  to  blame  ?  History  will  not  lay  blame  really  to 
on  Erasmus  or  Luther,  or  on  the  wilder  ^'"^ 
prophets,  or  on  the  misguided  peasantry,  but  on  the 
higher  powers  whose  place  it  was  to  have  averted  revo- 
lution by  timely  reforms.  It^was  their  refusal  of  reform 
which  was  the  real  cause  of  revolution.  __  It  was  the  con- 
spiracy of  the  higher  powers  at  the  Diet  of  Worms  to 
sacrifice  the  common  weal  to  their  own  ambitious  ob- 
jects on  which  history  will  lay  the  blame  of  the  Pea- 
sants' War. 

In  the  meantime  let  us  not  forget  that  there  was  one 
at  least  of  the  higher  powers  who  had  no  share  in  the 
blame — one  of  them  who  had  shown  himself  able  to 
sacrifice  his  own  ambition  to  the  common  weal,  who 
had  worked  silently  and  hard  for  reform —  Death  of  the 
the  good  Elector  Frederic  of  Saxony.     As    Elector  of 

"  ^  haxony, 

the  peasant  rebellion  under  Mi^inzer  was  May  1525. 
going  on  in  Thuringia,  on  the  threshold  of  Saxony,  he 
lay  dying.  He  had  no  revengeful  feelings.  He  did 
not  urge  on  the  slaughter  of  peasantry  like  Luther.  He 
wrote  to  his  brother,  Duke  John,  who  succeeded  him  as 
Elector,  and  who  was  gone  with  the  army,  to  act  pru- 
dently and  leniently.  If  the  peasants'  turn  had  really 
come  to  rule,  God's  will  be  done !  Only  his  servants 
were  with  him.  'Dear  children,'  he  said  to  them,  'if  I 
have  offended  any  of  you, 'forgive  me,  for  the  love  of 
God ;  we  princes  do  many  things  to  the  poor  people 
that  we  ought  not  to  do  ! ' 

Soon  after  he  received  the  sacrament,  and  died. 


154  The  Protestant  RevoIutio7i.  PT.  ii. 

{d)    The  Sack  of  Rome  {1327). 

Now  let  us  see  what  was  the  result  to  the  higher 
Alliance  of  powers  themselves  of  the  secret  treaty  of 
theEm%ror  Worms,  May  8,  1 52 1,  by  which  the  Pope 
against  France,  and  Emperor  were  to  join  their  forces 
against  France,  and  to  secure  which  the  interests  of  the 
German  people  were  deliberately  sacrificed. 

Henry  VIII.  of  England  soon  joined  the  alliance 
against  France.  He  had  secret  reasons  to  be  mentioned 
Henry  VIII.  hereafter  for  keeping  on  good  terms  with 
joins  it.  Charles  V.  and  the  Pope,  and  so  had  his 

minister  Cardinal  Wolsey.  Henry  was  tempted  also 
with  the  prospect  of  winning  back  the  English  provinces 
in  France,  while  Wolsey  was  flattered  by  the  promises 
of  Charles  V.  to  do  all  he  could  to  get  him  elected  Pope 
on  the  next  vacancy. 

The  first  skirmishes  took  place  between  Charles  V. 
and  Francis  I.  in  the  north,  but  with  no  decisive  results. 
Meanwhile  the  allied  army  in  Italy  was  strengthened  and 
that  of  France  weakened  by  the  Swiss  soldiers  under  the 
pay  of  France  being  withdrawn,  and  Swiss  recruits  ac- 
cepting imperial  pay.  The  armies  were  soon  in  motion, 
and  on  Nov.  25,  1521,  Leo  X.  received  tidings  that  the 
Pope  Leo  X  allied  army  had  triumphantly  entered  the 
dies,  1521.  city  of  Milan,  but  while  the  rejoicmgs  at 
Rome  in  celebration  of  their  triumph  were  still  going  on, 
the  Pope  suddenly  died,  on  December  i,  not  without 
suspicion  of  poison. 

To  the  surprise  of  everyone  the  Emperor's  old  tutor 

was   now   elected   Pope  under  the  title  of 

Adrian  VI.     Charles  V.  had  not  used  his 

influence  to  promote  the  success  of  Wolsey.  Adrian  was 

a  Spaniard — a  nominal  governor  in  Spain  while  Ximenes 

really  governed — and  was  more  likely  to  serve  Spanish 


CH.  V.  Revolution.  155 

interests  than  the  wily  Enghsh  minister.  Adrian  was  a 
sternly  virtuous,  well-meaning  pope.  He  would  have 
made  peace  if  he  could.  He  would  have  reconciled  the 
German  nation  by  reforms  if  he  could,  but  with  the  wish 
he  had  not  the  power.  Everything  was  against  him  ;  he 
was  old  ;  his  reign  was  short,  and  he  died  clement  vil. 
in  1523,  to  make  way,  not  for  Wolsey,  for  i^op^*  ^523- 
again  Charles  V.  played  his  own  game,  but  for  another 
of  the  Medici,  Clement  Vll.  He  was  not  a  Spaniard, 
but  the  most  powerful  ally  of  Spain  that  Italy  could  pro- 
duce among  her  cardinals. 

In  the  meantime  the  Duke  of  Bourbon  (one  of  the 
Duchies  which  had  become  subject  to  the  French  crown) 
rebelled  from  Francis  I.  and  joined  the  im-  DukedeBour- 
perial  league  against  France.  Henry  VIII.  j^g^" i"' ^^ alnst 
also  was  once  more  tempted  by  a  vague  France, 
prospect  of  again  annexing  French  provinces  to  the 
English  crown,  to  help  in  the  invasion  of  France. 

The  result  of  this  invasion  was  to  rouse  the  national 
feeling,  and  therefore  the  power  of  France.  It  was  un- 
successful, and  ended  in  Francis  I.  assum-    „       .  , 

Francis  I. 

ing  the   offensive   and   crossing   the   Alps,    crosses  the 
Then  came  the  battle  of  Pavia  in  1524,   in       ^^' 
which  the  imperial  armies  under  the  Duke   at  the  battle  of 
of  Bourbon  and  the  old  German  general    ^^^'^• 
Frundsberg  gained  the  victory,  and  Francis  I.  was  taken 
prisoner. 

Henry  VIII.  began  now  to  dream  not  only  of  getting 
back  the  lost  English  provinces,  but  even  of  being  king 
of  France.  But  Charles  V.  had  little  confidence  in  him 
and  Wolsey.  He  was  playing  his  own  game,  not  that 
of  Henry  VIII. 

Pope  Clement  VII.  meanwhile  had  expected  Francis 
I.  to  win  at  the   battle  of  Pavia",    and,  to   make  himself 


156  The  Protestant  Revolution.  pt.  ll. 

safe,  had  come  to  secret  terms  of  alliance  with  him. 
Before  the  battle  of  Pavia  he  had  gone  so  far  as  almost 
to  break  with  the  Emperor.  After  the  bat- 
tNveen"^Charles  tie,  all  Italy  began  to  be  afraid  that  Spanish 
Pope"^  ^^^  influence  would  become  omnipotent ;  so  a 
rupture  between  the  Pope  and  Spain  was 
imminent.  In  the  meantime  the  Emperor  removed  his 
royal  prisoner  to  Spain,  so  taking  him  out  of  the  hands 
of  his  allies.  Then  came  the  breach  between  Charles  V. 
and  Henry  VIII.,  the  marriage  of  Charles — so  long  in- 
tended but  kept  secret — to  the  Infanta  of  Portugal,  in- 
stead of  to  the  English  Princess  Mary  ;  the  secret  peace 
of  Henry  with  France.  In  1526,  followed  the  release  of 
Francis  on  his  oath  to  observe  conditions  from  which  the 
Pope  at  once  formally  absolved  him.  This  produced  a 
final  breach  between  the  Emperor  and  the  Pope,  and  an 
alliance  between  the  Pope  and  Francis  against  the  Em- 
peror. 

It  was   at  this  moment  that  the  Diet  of  Spires  was 
sitting.     The  Emperor  had  ordered  that  stringent  mea- 
sures should  be  taken  against  the  Lutheran 

Result  at 

the  Diet  of        heresy,  and  that  the  Edict  of  Worms  should 
^"^"'  be  carried  out.     This  was  impossible.     The 

new  Elector  of  Saxony,  and  those  who  sided  with  him, 
were  too  strongly  backed  for  such  a  course  to  be  taken. 
Now  the  breach  between  the  Pope  and  the  Emperor  came 
to  their  aid.  The  Emperor  no  longer  cared  to  back  up 
the  interests  of  a  Pope  who  had  quarrelled  with  him,  and 
the  result  of  the  Diet  was  a  decree  signed  by  Ferdinand, 
the  brother  of  Charles  V.,  in  the  Emperor's  stead,  con- 
taining the  memorable  clause,  that  '  Each  state  should, 
as  regards  the  Edict  of  Worms,  so  live,  rule,  and  bear 
itself  as  it  thought  it  could  answer  it  to  God  and  the 
Enneror.' 


CH.  V.  Revolution.  157 

This  left  the  Cathohc  princes  to  do  as  they  liked  on 
the  one  hand,  and  the  princes  who  favoured  Luther  to  do 
as  they  liked  on  the  other.  From  this  decree  of  the  Diet 
of  Spires  came  the  division  of  Germany  into  Catholic 
and  Protestant  states. 

This  came  out  of  the  quarrel  between  the  Pope  and 
Emperor.     The  next  thing  was  the  gathering  of  a  Ger- 
man army  under  George  Frundsberg,  an  ar-      March  of  a 
my  composed  almost  entirely  of  Lutherans,      German 

■'  "^  ■'  army  on 

under  a  Lutheran  general,  a  host  of  discon-      Rome. 
tented,  wild,  reckless  men,  who  had  survived  the  horrors 
of  the  Peasants'  War,  were  inspired  by  hope  of  plunder, 
and  inflamed  by  the  zeal  of  Frundsberg,  who  declared, 
'When  I  make  my  way  to  Rome,  I  will  hang  the  Pope  !' 

They  crossed  the  Alps  by  a  dangerous  unguarded  pass, 
descended  into  the  plains  of  Lombardy,  and  then  joined 
the  Spanish  army  under  the  Duke  of  Bourbon.  This  was 
in  January  1527.  A  few  weeks  more,  and  the  combined 
army,  20,000  strong,  was  marching  on  Rome.  Then  came 
delays,  rumours  of  a  truce,  and  the  mutiny  of  the  Span- 
ish soldiers  for  their  long-withheld  pay.  Lastly,  the 
German  soldiers  also  mutinied,  in  vexation  at  which  the 
old  veteran  general  Frundsberg  fell  powerless  under  a 
shock  of  paralysis.  The  army  advanced  under  Bourbon, 
and  then  followed  the  commencement  of  the  siege  of 
Rome  ;  the  death  of  Bourbon,  shot  as  he  was  mounting 
a  ladder ;  and — the  rest  shall  be  told  in  the  graphic  words, 
which  the  brother  of  the  Emperor's  secretary  Valdez  put 
into  the  mouth  of  an  eye-witness  in  his  '  Dialogue  on  the 
Sack  of  Rome.' 

'  The  Emperor's  army  was  so  desirous  to  enter  Rome, 
some  to  rob  and  spoil,  others  for  the  extreme      ^1,^  53^^ 
hatred  they  bore  to  the  Court  of  Rome,  and      °*^  Rome, 
some  both  for  the  one  and  the  other  cause,  that  the  Span- 


158  The  Protestant  Revolution.  pt.  li. 

iards  and  the  Italians  on  the  one  side  by  scale,  and  the 
Germans  on  the  other  side  by  pickaxes  breaking  down 
the  wall,  entered  by  the  Borgo,  on  which  side  stands  the 
Church  of  St.  Peter  and  the  Holy  Palace.  Though  those 
within  had  artillery  and  those  without  none,  yet  they  en- 
tered without  the  slaughter  of  a  hundred  of  themselves. 
Of  those  within  were  slain,  some  say  6,000,  but  in  truth 
there  died  not  upon  the  entry  above  4,000,  for  they  im- 
mediately retired  into  the  city.  The  Pope  in  his  own 
palace  was  so  careless  that  it  was  a  wonder  he  was  not 
taken,  but  seeing  how  matters  stood,  he  retired  himself 
into  the  castle  of  St.  Angelo,  with  thirteen  cardinals  and 
other  bishops  and  principal  persons  who  stayed  with  him. 
And  presently  the  enemies  entered,  and  spoiled  and 
sacked  all  that  was  in  the  palace,  and  the  like  did  they  to 
the  cardinals'  houses  and  all  other  houses  within  the 
Borgo,  not  sparing  any,  no  not  the  Church  of  the  Prince 
of  the  Apostles  !  This  day  they  had  enough  to  do  without 
entering  Rome,  whither  our  people,  hoisting  up  the  draw- 
bridge, had  retired  and  fortified  themselves.  The  poor 
Roman  people,  seeing  their  manifest  destruction,  would 
have  sent  ambassadors  to  the  army  of  the  Emperor  to 
have  agreed  with  him,  and  to  have  avoided  the  sack  ; 
but  the  Pope  would  by  no  means  consent  to  it. 

'  The  captains  of  the  Emperor  presently  determined  to 
assault  the  city,  and  the  very  same  night,  fighting  with 
their  enemies,  they  entered,  and  the  sack  continued  more 
than  eight  days,  in  which  time  they  had  no  regard  of 
nation,  quality,  or  kind  of  men.  The  captains  did  what 
they  could  to  stop  it,  but  the  soldiers,  being  so  fleshed  in 
their  robberies  as  they  were,  you  should  behold  troops 
of  soldiers  passing  the  streets  with  cries;  one  carried 
prisoners,  another  plate,  another  household  stuff.  The 
sighs,  groans,  and  outcries  of  women  and  children  in  all 


CH.  V.  Revolution.  159 

places  were  so  piteous  that  my  bones  yet  shake  to  make 
report  of  them.  They  carried  no  respect  to  bishops  or 
cardinals,  churches  or  monasteries;  all  was  fish  that 
came  into  their  net;  there  was  never  seen  more  cruelty, 
less  humanity,  nor  fear  of  God. 

'They  had  no  respect  even  to  Spaniards  and  Ger- 
mans, and  other  nations  that  were  vassals  and  servants 
to  the  Emperor.  They  left  neither  house,  nor  church,  nor 
man  that  was  in  Rome  unsacked  or  ransomed,  not  even 
the  secretary  Perez  himself,  who  was  resident  at  Rome 
on  behalf  of  the  Emperor.  Those  cardinals  who  could 
not  escape  with  the  Pope  into  the  castle  of  St.  Angelo 
were  taken  and  ransomed,  and  their  persons  full  ill- 
favouredly  handled,  being  drawn  through  the  streets  of 
Rome  bare-legged.  To  make  mocking  of  them,  a  Ger- 
man, clothing  himself  like  a  cardinal,  went  riding  about 
Rome  in  his  "pontificalibus,"  and  a  bottle  of  wine  on  the 
pommel  of  his  saddle,  and  then  a  Spaniard  in  the  same 
manner,  with  a  courtezan  behind  him.  The  Germans  led 
a  bishop  of  their  own  nation  (who  stood  upon  election  to 
have  been  a  cardinal)  to  the  market-place  to  be  sold,  with 
a  bough  in  his  forehead,  as  they  do  when  they  sell  beasts. 

'  It  is  said  that  the  sack  of  Rome  amounted  unto,  by 
ransoms  and  compositions,  above  15  millions  of  ducats. 
Churches  were  turned  into  stables.  The  Church  of  St. 
Peter,  both  on  the  one  side  and  the  other,  was  all  full  of 
horses!  Soldiers  carried  along  the  streets  nuns  from 
monasteries  and  virgins  from  their  fathers'  houses,  and 
from  the  time  that  the  Emperor's  army  entered  Rome 
till  the  time  that  I  departed — the  12th  June — there  was 
not  a  mass  said  in  Rome,  nor  all  that  time  heard  we  a 
bell  ring  nor  a  clock.  Not  a  priest  or  friar  dared  walk 
in  the  streets  except  in  garments  of  a  soldier,  else 
the  Germans  would  cry  out,  "A  pope  !  a  pope !  kill  I  kill!'  " 


i6o  The  Protestant  Revolution.  pt.  hi. 

This  was  what  had  come  to  the  Pope  from  the  con- 
spiracy of  his  predecessor  with  the  Emperor  at  Worms, — 
an  imperial  edict  at  the  Diet  of  Spires,  in  1526,  leaving 
the  states  of  Germany  virtually  free  to  adhere  to  or  sever 
themselves  from  the  ecclesiastical  empire  of  Rome  as 
they  severally  pleased ; — Rome  sacked  By  a  German 
army  in  the  Emperor's  name,  and  more  pitilessly  pillaged 
than  it  had  been  1000  years  before  by  the  Vandals ; — 
the  Pope  a  prisoner  of  the  Emperor  in  the  castle  of  St. 
Angelo,  and  henceforth  destined  to  act  as  the  tool  of  his 
imperial  master,  and  to  yield  an  enforced  submission  to 
the  supremacy  of  Spain ! 
„     ,    ,  ,  We  may  take  this  result  as  marking  an 

Result  of  the  ,  "^  ,       ,   .  ^    ^ 

Papal  policy,  epoch.  Rome  had  for  ever  ceased  to  be  the 
capital  of  Christendom.  The  old  Roman 
form  of  civilization  radiating  from  Rome  had  finally  given 
place  to  a  new  form  of  civilization,  which  would  go  on  its 
way  independently  of  Rome,  and  which  Rome  was  no 
longer  able  cither  to  inspire  or  to  control. 


PART  III. 

RESULTS  OF  THE  PROTESTANT 
REVOLUTION. 

CHAPTER  I. 

revolts  from  rome. 

In  Switzerland  and  Germany. 

[a)  Meaning  of  Revolt  from  Ro77ie. 

We  have  now  to  trace  how  the  Protestant  Revolution  re- 
sulted in  several  national  revolts  from  the  ecclesiastical 
empire  of  Rome. 


CH.  I. 


Revolts  from  Rome. 


i6i 


1 62         Results  of  the  Protestant  Revolution,     pt.  iii. 

But  first,  what  did  a  national  revolt  from  Rome  mean  ? 

It  was  the  claiming  by  the  civil  power  in  each  nation  of 

those  rights  which  the  Pope  had  hitherto 

Meaning  of  re-  .... 

volt  from  claimed  within  it  as  head  of  the  great  eccle- 

siastical empire.  The  clergy  and  monks  had 
hitherto  been  regarded  more  or  less  as  foreigners — /.  e.  as 
subjects  of  the  Pope's  ecclesiastical  empire.  Where 
there  was  revolt  from  Rome  the  allegiance  of  these  per- 
sons to  the  Pope  was  annulled,  and  the  civil  power 
claimed  as  full  a  sovereignty  over  them  as  it  had  over  its 
lay  subjects.  Matters  relating  to  marriages  and  wills  still 
for  the  most  part  remained  under  ecclesiastical  jurisdic- 
tion as  before,  but  then,  as  the  ecclesiastical  courts  them- 
selves became  national  courts  and  ceased  to  be  Roman 
or  Papal,  all  these  matters  came  under  the  control  of  the 
civil  power.  Even  in  matters  of  religious  doctrine  and 
practice  and  public  worship,  the  civil  power  often  claimed 
the  final  authority  hitherto  exercised  by  the  Pope. 

Such  being  the   meaning  of  revolt  from  Rome,  it  will 

be  clear  at  once  that  it  was  sl  political  (\\jL\ie  as  much  as 

,.  .    ,         and  sometimes  more  than  a  relif^ious  matter 

A  political  .,  . 

change.  — an  assertion  by  the  civil  power  in  each 

nation  of  that  free  independent  national  life 
which  we  noticed  as  characteristic  of  the  new  order  of 
things. 

A  study  of  the  map  showing  '  the  extent  of  the  revolt 
from  Rome  '  will  illustrate  this  by  another  fact — viz.  that 
^^    ^        .it  was  those  nations  which  in  the  main  are  of 

1  he   leutonic  .    .  c     • 

nations  revolt-  Teutonic  or  German  origin — Germany,  Swit- 
The  Romanic  zerland,  Denmark,  Sweden,  England,  Scot- 
maine"r^'  l^nd,  and  the  Netherlands— which  finally 
under  Rome,  made  good  their  revolt  from  Rome.  As  the 
Germans  under  their  great  leader  '  Hermann*  had,  1500 
years  before,  been  the  first  to  make  good  their  indepen- 


CH.  I.       Revolts  from  Rome — Switzerland.  163 

dence  from  the  old  Roman  Empire,  so  it  was  in  the  na- 
tions which  were  of  Germanic  speech  and  origin  that 
revolt  was  made  from  papal  Rome.  On  the  other  hand 
those  nations — Spain,  France,  and  Italy — which  had 
long  formed  a  part  of  the  old  Roman  Empire,  and  were 
Romanic  in  their  languages  and  instincts,  remained  in 
allegiance  to  the  Pope. 

There  were  no  doubt  many  people  in  Spain,  France, 
and  Italy  who  sympathized  with  the  doctrines  of  the 
Reformers,  but  there  was  no  revolt,  because  these  na- 
tions, or  the  civil  powers  representing  them,  chose  to  re- 
main politically  connected  with  Rome. 

It  is  well  to  observe  also  how  the  turn  the  revolt  took 
in  the  revolting  nations  was  in  a  great  degree  the  result 
of  their  political  condition. 

Thus  in  England,  Denmark,  Sweden,  in  whi-ch  the 
central  power  was  strong  enough  to  act  for  the  nation 
and  to  carry  the  nation  with  it,  there  was  a 

...  ■  1  1       r  T-.  I"   some  na- 

decisive  national  revolt  from  Rome;  while  tions  there  was 
in  Switzerland  and  Germany,  where  practi-  ^^t^^°in  slmtt 
cally  there  was  no  central  power  capable  of  divided  action 

/  r  r  and  civil  wars. 

acting  for  the  nation  as  a  whole,  there  were 
divisions  and  civil  wars  within  the  nation,  some  of  its 
petty  states  at  length  revolting  from  Rome,  and  others 
remaining  under  the  ecclesiastical  empire. 

We  will  first  take  the  case  of  these  divided  nations — • 
Switzerland  and  Germany,  and  then  pass  on  to  the  others. 

{b)    The  Revolt  in  Switzerland. 
No  nation  was  so  absolutely  without  a  central  authori- 
ty as  the  Swiss.     Each  canton  was  as  independent  of 
the  others  for  most  purposes  as  the  petty 

r      J    1  r  /-  -.TTi  •. ,      ...         Switzerland 

feudal  states  of  Germany.    When  Machia-   divided  into 
velli  complained   of  the  divisions  of  Italy    *^'='"'°"^- 


164         Results  of  the  Protestant  Revolution,     pt.  iii. 


preventing  its  becoming  a  nation,  he  warned  the  Italians 
of  the  danger  of  a  country  being  '  cantonized  '  hke  Swit- 
zerland. But  there  was  this  difference  between  a  Swiss 
canton  and  a  petty  feudal  state.  In  the  Swiss  canton 
there  was  no  feudal  lord ;  the  people  governed  them- 
selves. It  was  not  a  feudal  lordship,  but  a  little  republic 
of  communes  or  villages  of  the  primitive  Teutonic  type, 
in  which  the  civil  power  was  vested  in  the  community. 

If  therefore  in  a  Swiss  canton  the  civil  power  took  to 
^.  .,  itself  the  ecclesiastical  power  hitherto  held 

Civil  power  ,         ,       T-.  1  -1  1    • 

vested  in  the  by  the  rope,  that  power  became  vested  m 
peope.  ih.Q  people,  not,  as  in  other  countries,  in  the 

prince  or  king. 

Bearing  this  in  mind,  the  history  of  the  revolt  from 
Rome  in  Switzerland  will  be  easily  comprehended. 
,„  .  ,  ^  .  The  Swiss  reformer,  Ulrich  Ziving^le,  was 

Ulrich  Zwin-  .  . 

gie,  the  Swiss     born  m  1484,  and  was  the  son  of  the  chief 
man  of  his  village.     Well  educated  at  Basle 


CH.  I.        Revolts  from  Rome — Switzerland.  165 

and  Berne,  and  after  having  taken  this  degree  at  the 
university  at  Vienna,  he  became  a  curate  in  Canton 
Clarus.  The  new  learning  had  spread  into  Switzerland, 
and  Zwingle  was  one  of  its  disciples.  He  studied  Plato 
and  the  new  Testament  in  Greek,  like  Colet  and  Eras- 
mus. Being  sent  into  Italy  twice  as  army  preacher,  he 
saw  the  Swiss  troops  conquered  at  Marignano,  and  re- 
turned home  full  of  patriotic  hatred  of  the  system  of 
hiring  out  troops  to  fight  other  nations'  battles.  Then  he 
settled  in  Zurich  and  became  a  reformer ;  settles  ^t  Zu- 
preaching  against  indulgences,  celibacy  in  "'^l^- 
the  clergy,  and  whatever  else  he  thought  could  not  be 
justified  by  the  New  Testament. 

His  own  canton,  Zurich,  under  his  influ-  Zurich  as- 
ence,  threw  off  the  episcopal  yoke  of  the  ecdesilsticll'^ 
Bishop  of  Constance  and  assumed  the  eccle-  po^^^rs. 
siastical  authority  to  itself.  The  Zurich  government  au- 
thorized the  use  of  their  mother  tongue  instead  of  Latin 
in  public  worship,  burned  the  relics  from  the  shrines 
and  altered  the  mode  of  admistering  the  sa- 

Berne  did  the 

craments.     So  Zurich  revolted  from  Rome    same  soon 

in  1 524.     Berne  followed  soon  after  ;  while 

the  Forest  Catttons — Lucerne,  Zug,  Schwitz,  Uri,  and  Un- 

terwalden — followed  by  Fribourg  and  the  Valais,  which 

was  not  yet  a  Swiss  canton,  held  to  the  old  order  of 

things. 

Some  cantons  going  one  way  and  some  another,  the 
result  was  division  and  civil  war,  the  Catholic  cantons 
calling  in  the  aid  of  their  old  feudal  enemies,    ^.  ., 

Civil  war. 

the    House   of    Hapsburg.     The   civil    war 
lasted,  off  and  on,  for  two  or  three  years  till,  in   1531, 
after  Zwingle  himself  had  fallen  in  battle,  it  was  ended 
by  the  peace  of  Cappel,  at  which  it   was    -p^^f.^^^ 
decided    that  each  canton  should    do  as  it    Capptl,  1531. 


1 66         Resiclts  of  the  Protestant  Revolutio7i.     pt.  iii. 

liked,  while  in  the  districts  which  were  dependent  on  the 
Swiss  Confederation,  and  not  to  any  particular  canton, 
the  majority  in  each  congregation  should  manage  its 
own  ecclesiastical  affairs.  The  map  will  show  which 
cantons  revolted  from  Rome,  and  how  the  districts  were 
divided  in  their  action. 

Zwingle  was  a  true  patriot.  He  wished  to  see  the 
Swiss  a  united  nation  ;  and  with  that  object  he  proposed 
Character  of  political  as  Well  as  religious  reforms  which 
Zwingle.  g^j-g  j^Q^  being  carried  out.     He  was  rather 

a  disciple  of  Erasmus  than  of  Luther.  He  did  not  adopt 
the  strong  Augustinian  views  of  Luther.  He  also  took 
freer  views  respecting  the  sacraments,  Luther,  a  slave 
in  this  respect  to  the  mere  letter  of  Scripture,  held  by  the 
words  'This  is  my  body'  so  strongly  as  to 

Luther  quar-  -^  ^  , 

rels  with  Uphold  the  doctrme  of  '  the  real  presence 

winge.  almost     as    fully    as    the    Catholic    party. 

Zwingle  took  wider  views,  treating  the  sacrament  as  a 
symbol.  The  violent  dogmatic  intolerant  spirit  of 
Luther  was  never  more  painfully  shown  than  in  the  dis- 
pute with  Zwingle  on  this  subject.  The  bitter  hatred  he 
showed  to  Zwingle  and  Erasmus  was  all  of  a  piece  with 
his  violent  feelings  against  the  poor  peasants  of 
Germany.  Whilst  doing  justice  to  the  noble  and  heroic 
character  of  the  great  German  reformer,  these  things  re- 
mind us  that  there  lingered  in  his  mind  much  of  the 
dogmatism  and  intolerance  of  the  scholastic  theologian. 

[c]  The  Revolt  in  Germany  (1526-1555). 
We  have  seen  how  the  German  people  suffered  at  the 
commencement  of  the  era  because  they  had  not  yet  be- 
come a  united  nation  ;  and  also  how  deep  and  widely 
spread  were  their  yearnings  after  national  life  and  unity 
— peasants  crying  out  to  the  higher  powers  for  protec- 


CH.  I.  Revolt  from  Rome — Germany.  167 

tion  from  feudal  oppression — Luther  and  Hutten  ap- 
pealing to  them  to  free  the  German  nation  from  the 
tyranny  of  the  great  ecclesiastical  empire  of  Rome.  Had 
Charles  V.  cared  more  for  Germany  than  his  own  selfish 
ambitions,  and  put  himself  at  the  head  of  the  strong 
national  feeling,  as  Frederick  of  Saxony  wanted  him  to 
do  at  Worms,  there  was  at  least  a  good  chance  of 
uniting  Germany  into  a  powerful  and  prosperous  nation. 
But  he  threw  away  the  chance.  We  have  seen  how  the 
course  taken  by  Charles  V.  and  the  higher  powers  in  the 
Diet  of  Worms  produced  a  revolution  which  cost  a 
hundred  thousand  lives.     We  have  now  to    ,^^   ^ 

1  •       T     •  1      1   ^  •  -1         The  freedom 

see  how  it  divided  Germany  into  two  hostile    oftheGer- 
camps,  hurried  her  into  the  horrors  of  the    try'post'^'^^" 
Thirty  Years'  War,  postponed  for  eight  or   p°"^'^  'P'"  '<=" 

■'  '  r         r  o  generations. 

ten  generations  the  freedom  of  her  peasan- 

j  1    f  •  ,  ,•        •  The  Diet  of 

try,  and  left  to  our  own  times  the  realization  Spires,  1526, 
of  the  yearnings  of  the  German  people  after  sL'te^to  take 
national  unity.  '"^^  °^^"  , 

^  _  _  course  about 

The  decision  of  the  Diet  of  Spires  in  1526   Luther. 
had  already  settled  that  each  state  of  the  Empire  should 
do  as  it  thought  best  in  the  matter  of  the  edict  against 
Luther. 

As  might  be  expected,  those  princes  who  sided  with 
Luther,  and  followed  the  lead  of  Saxony,  at  once  took 
reform  into  their  own  hands.     Monasteries    ,, 

.  Hence  arose 

were  reformed  or  suppressed,  and  their  rev-  Protestant 

enues  turned  to   good   account,  either  for  nation'ar " ' 

educational    purposes,    for   supporting   the  f  ^JJ^^u "  *^^*^* 

preaching   of  the   gospel,    or   for  the  poor,  while  others 

remained 

Monks   and   nuns   were  allowed  to  marry.    Catholic. 
Luther  himself  setting  the  example  of  mar- 
rying a  nun.     Divine  service  was  in  part  carried  on  in 
German,  thoutrh  Latin  was  not  cntirclv  excluded.     The 


1 68         Results  of  the  Protestant  Revoltition.     pt.  iii. 

youth  were  taught  to  read  in  common  schools  and  in 
the  language  of  the  Fatherland.  Luther's  German  Bible 
and  German  hymns  came  into  popular  use.  In  a  word, 
in  what  were  called  the  '  Evangelical  States '  a  sever- 
ance was  made  from  the  Church  of  Rome ;  and  national 
churches  sprang  up,  resting  on  the  civil  power  of  each 
state  for  their  authority  and  adopting  Lutheran  doctrines. 
This  was  the  result  of  the  decree  of  the  first  Diet  of 
Spires  and  the  Emperor's  quarrel  with  the  Pope. 

Meanwhile  the  Emperor,  having  settled  his  quarrel 
_,  ,       with  the   Pope,   returned   to  his  loyalty  to 

The  second  i  , 

Diet  of  Rome,  and,  taking  advantage  of  this,  the 

re'versed^tfe  Catholic   party   succeeded,    in   the    second 

wltht'tan'drn.^'  ^^^^  ^^  Spircs,  in  I  $29,  in  passing  a  decree 

the  protest  of  re-enacting  the  Edict  of  Worms,  and  for- 

the  Protestant  ,    . 

princes.  Diddmg  all  future  reform  till  a  regular  coun- 

cil was  summoned.  The  Lutheran  princes 
protested  against  the  decree,  and  so  earned  the  name  of 
'  Protestants.' 

Civil  war  would  very  likely  have  at  once  resulted  from 
this  had  not  the  Turks  very  opportunely  made  an  attempt 
to  extend  their  empire  westward  by  besieging  Vienna. 
The  old  dread  which  filled  the  minds  of  Christians  at  the 
beginning  of  the  era  came  upon  them  again.  Melanch- 
thon,  who,  with  all  his  wisdom,  still  believed  in  astrology, 
watched  the  movements  of  the  stars,  and 
averted  by  the  augured  disastrous  results  from  the  approach 
on'vienna^'^''  ^^  ^  comct.  Lutlicr  showed  how  thorough  a 
German  he  was  by  counselling  unity  in  the 
moment  of  common  danger.  For  a  time  Germany  was 
united  again,  but  only  till  the  Turks  had  retreated  from 
Vienna. 

Charles  V.  had  now  reached  the  summit  of  his  power. 
He  had  conquered  France,  he  had  conquered  the  Pope, 


CH.  I.  Revolt  from  Ronie — Germany.  169 

he  had  been  crowned  kinpr  of  Italy  at  Bo-    ^,    ^   , 

°  .  .  The  Turks 

losna.     He  was  now  asiain  reconciled  with    driven  back. 

r"h    1     V 
the  Pope,  and  lastly,  he  had  driven  back  the   turns  again 

Turks,  He  had  only  to  conquer  the  he-  hPrTtics*"^"^" 
retics  of  Germany  to  complete  the  list  of 
his  triumphs.  So  he  came  in  person  to  the  Diet  of 
Augsburg  in  1530  to  ensure  by  his  presence  the  enforce- 
ment of  the  Edict  of  Worms.  Every  effort  was  made  to 
induce   the    Protestant  princes   to   submit;    ^. 

^  .  .        Diet  of  Augs- 

but,  headed  by  John  of  Saxony  and  Philip   burg.  The 

/•    TT  1  ■         •         1       1      •  1       'Augsburg 

of  Hesse,   they   mamtamed    their   ground.    Coniession.' 
Luther  and  Melanchthon  were  at  Coburg, 
near  at  hand,  and  drew  up  a  statement  of  Lutheran  doc- 
trines which  was  known  henceforth  as  the   'Augsburg 
Confession.' 

The  Emperor  at  length  gave  them  a  few  months  to 
consider  whether  they  would  submit;  if  not,  the  decree 
of  the  Diet  was,  that  the  Lutheran  heresy    .„ 

Protestant 

should  be  crushed  by  the  imperial  power,    princes  form 

„,,         „  •  r  J    ii  the  league  of 

Ihe  Protestant  princes  at  once  formed  the   Schmaikaid 
'league  of  Schmalkalden '    for  mutual   de-    defence"^ 
fence.     And  this,  in  spite  of  Luther's  protest 
against  opposition  to  the  civil  power,  would  have  at  once 
led  to  civil  war,  had  not  another  Turkish  invasion  in 
1532  again  diverted  the  attention  of  Charles  V.  and  of 
Germany  from  religious  disputes. 

During  the  life  of  Luther,  the  inevitable  civil  war  was 
postponed.  Melanchthon  used  the  delay  for  an  attempt, 
by  argument  and  persuasion,  to  bring  about  a  reconcili- 
ation between  Catholic  and  Protestant  theologians.  At 
the   council   of  Ratisbon,   as   we  shall  see    ^.  ., 

.  Civil  war 

by-and-by,  a  theological  peace  was  almost   postponed 
concluded  ;  but  the  schism  was  too  wide  and    Luthir's 
deep  to  be  healed  so  easily.  Meanwhile,  state   '''^'' 


I  "JO         Results  of  the  Protestant  Rcvohitioru     pt.  in. 

after  state  went  over  to  the  Protestant  side,  and  civil  war 
became  more  and  more  imminent.  The  death  of  Luther 
in  1 546  was  the  signal  for  its  commencement.  The  Em- 
peror and  Catholic  princes,  by  means  of  Spanish  soldiers, 
,     .  .     .         now  tried  to  reduce  to  obedience  the  princes 

but  It  begins 

soon  after  of  the  Schmalkald  league.   They  conquered 

the  Elector  John  Frederic  of  Saxony  and 
Duke  Philip  of  Hesse,  the  leaders  of  the  Lutheran  party, 
and  proceeded  to  enforce  by  the  sword  a  return  to  Cath- 
olic faith  and  practice  all  over  Germany. 

Charles  V.  now  appeared  in  his  true  light  as  the  Span- 
ish conqueror  of  Germany.     John  Frederick  of  Saxony 
and  Philip  of  Hesse,  the  most  beloved  and 

Spanish  con- 
quest of  Ger-      truly  German  of  German  prmces,  were  sen- 

■^"^'  tenced  to  death,  kept  in  prison,  and  brutally 

treated.     Germany,  which  Charles  V.  had  sacrificed  at 

the  Diet  of  Worms  to  secure  his  Spanish  policy,  was  now 

kept  down  by  Spanish  soldiers,  and  practically  made 

into  a  Spanish  province. 

This  was  not  the  national  unity  which  the  German  peo- 
ple yearned  after;  it  was  subjugation  to  a  foreign  yoke. 

A  few   years  of  Spanish   rule   produced   its   natural 

effect — revolt  of  the  German  princes,  alliance  even  with 

France  !    and  then  came,  with  strange  suddenness,  the 

defeat  and  flight  of  Charles  V.     He  made  an  attempt  to 

regain  part  of  the  ground  which  the  French  had  taken, 

and  then  abdicated,  leaving  the  empire  to  his  brother 

Ferdinand,  Spain  and  the  Netherlands  to  his  son  Philip 

^     ,     ,  II.     Then   followed    his    cloister    life,    his 

Revolt  of  .  .  •■         •         ,       1     ,      , 

the  Protes-         Strange  remorse  in  consideration  that  he  had 

Defea['or^'      not  averted  all  these  evils  by  the  timely  de- 
Charles  V. ;       struction  of  the  heretic  Luther  at  the  Diet 

nis  abdica- 

tion  and  of  Worms  \  and  then  at  last  the  end  of  his 

death. 

Strange,  brilliant,  but  misguided  life  in  1558. 


CH.  II.  Reviylt  of  England  f}-om  Rome.  171 

The  struggle  of  Charles  V.  with  Germany  ended  in  the 
Peace  of  Augsburg  (1555),  with  its  legal  recognition  of 
the  Protestant  states  and  its  wretched   rule    ^^    „ 

1  he  Peace 

of  mock  toleration — cujiis  regio,  ejus  religio   of  Augsburg 
— toleration  to  princes,  with  power  to  compel   Us^ruie  o" 
their  subjects  to  be  of  the  same  religion  as    [^0^'"°'^'^^' 
themselves  !     It  was  a  peace  so  rotten  in  its 
foundation  that  out  of  it  came  by  inevitable  necessity 
that  most  terrible  chapter  of  German  history,  and  perhaps 
of  any  history — the  Tlmiy  Years'  War — which  cost  Ger- 
many, some  say,  half  her  population,  robbed  her  citizens 
of  the  last  vestige  of  their  political  freedom,  confirmed 
the  serfdom  of  her  peasantry  for  two  centuries  more,  and 
left  upon  some  of  her  provinces    scars  which  may  be 
traced  to-day. 

Such  terrible  paths  had  the  German  people  to  tread 
towards  national  freedom  and  unity.     Ten  generations 

of  Germans  had  to  bear  the  curse  brought    ^  ., 

°         Evils 
upon  them,  not  by  the  Reformation,  but  by   brought 

those  who  opposed  it — not  by  Luther,  nor   many  b"" 

even  by  Miinzer  and  his  wild  associates,  but    ^^^"^'^^  ^• 

by  the  Emperor  Charles  V.   and  others  of  the  higher 

powers  who  sided  with  him  when  he  sold  the  interests  of 

Germany  and  signed  the  treaty  with  the  Pope  on  that 

fatal  8th  of  May,  1521,  at  the  Diet  of  Worms. 


CHAPTER  II. 


REVOLT  OF  ENGLAND  FROM  ROME. 

[a]  Its  Political  Character. 

There  were  two  points  in  which  the  revolt  of  England 

from  Rome  differed  from  the  revolt  in  Switzerland  and 

Germany. 


173         Results  of  the  Protestant  Revolution,     pt.  in. 

(i)  England  was  a  compact  nation  with  a  strong 
central  government;  and  so,  instead  of  splitting  into 
In  England  parties  and  ending  in  civil  war,  revolted 
fromTome  altogether,  the  king  and  parliament  acting 
was  national,  together,  and  transferring  to  the  crown  the 
ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  hitherto  exercised  by  the  Pope 
in  England. 

(2)  In  the  Protestant  states  of  Germany  and  cantons 
of  Switzerland,  a  religious  movement  had  preceded  and 
and  came  at  caused  a  political  change ;  but  in  England 
poUtfcT  the   political    change    came    first    and  the 

causes.  change  in  doctrine  and  mode  of  worship  long 

afterwards.  The  severance  of  England  from  Rome  was 
not  the  result  of  a  religious  movement,  but  of  political 
causes,  which  we  must  now  trace. 

[b)  Reasons  for  Henry  VIII' s  Loyalty  to  Rome. 
Up  to  a  certain  point  in  his  reign  Henry  VIII.  held  by 
Henry  VIII.      ^^  Pope  and  opposed  Luther.  At  the  time  of 
defends  the        j-^g  j^jgt  of  Worms  he  joined  the  league  of  the 

divine  autho-  ■'  . 

rity  of  the  Pope  and  Emperor,  not  only  against  France, 

wrfte'sa"  but  also  against  Luther.     Whilst  the  Diet  of 

Lmher^n"^'  Worms  was  sitting,  he  wrote  his  celebrated 
1521.  book  against  Luther  and  in  defence  of  the 

divine  authority  of  the  Pope  —  for  doing  which  the  Pope 
rewarded  him  with  the  title  of  "  Defender  of  the  Faith." 
His  zeal  in  this  matter  was  so  eager  as  to  surprise  Sir 
Thomas  More,  who  was  now  in  Henry  VIII. 's  service. 
When  the  king  showed  him  the  book,  and  he  saw  the 
passages  in  defence  of  the  divine  authority  of  the  Pope, 
He  tells  Sir  More  (who  himself  doubted  it,  and  had 
Thomas  hinted  his  doubts  in  his  Utopia  by  making 

More  of  a  ... 

secret  reason      the  Utopians  talk  of  electing  a  Pope  of  their 
own)   questioned  with  the   king  whether  it 


CH.  II.  Revolt  of  England ffom  Rome.  173 

was  wise  to  write  so  strongly  on  that  point.  "Where- 
unto  (More  says)  his  Highness  answered  me  that  he 
would  in  no  wise  anything  minish  of  that  matter ;  of 
which  thing  his  Highness  showed  me  a  secret  cause 
whereof  I  never  had  anything  heard  before." 

Thereupon  More  studied  the  matter  afresh,  altered  his 
opinion,  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  Papacy  was  of 
divine  authority,  and  held  that  view  so  strongly  ever 
after,  that  at  last  he  died  rather  than  deny  it.  The 
reasons  which  made  Henry  VHI.  uphold  the  divine  au- 
thority of  the  Pope,  are  the  clue  to  the  history  of  the 
severance  of  England  from  Rome  afterwards. 

What  were  they  ? 

We  saw  how  the  ruling  idea  of  Henry  VH.  was  to 
establish  himself  and  his  heirs  firmly  on  the  throne. 
Kings  had  hitherto  had  such  precarious  thrones  that  they 
lived  in  constant  fear  of  rebellions  and  pretenders.  We 
saw  how  Henry  VII.  relied  greatly  on  his  foreign  policy 
and  alliances  to  make  his  throne  secure,  and  that  the 
chief  way  of  making  these  alliances  firm,  in 
an  age  of  bad  faith  and  Machiavellian  ma^rmge  with 
policy,  was  by  royal  marriages.  Henry  VII.  Arra'^o"^  ^^ 
knew  Ferdinand  of  Spain  would  tell  lies  or 
break  his  oath  without  remorse,  but  he  also  knew  that 
if  he  could  marry  his  son  and  probable  successor  to 
Ferdinand's  daughter,  Ferdinand  would  stick  by  him  in 
close  alliance  in  order  to  secure  that  his  daughter  might 
some  day  be  queen  of  England.  So  Henry  VII.  had 
married  his  eldest  son  Arthur,  Prince  of  Wales,  to  Cathe- 
rine of  Arragon,  and  when  Arthur  died,  had  strained 
a  point  to  get  Catherine  betrothed  to  his  next  son, 
Henry  VIII. 

Now  there  was  a  difficulty  about  this  marriage.  If  the 
marriage  with  Arthur  was  merely  a  formal  marriage,  then 


174         Results  of  the  Protestant  Revolution,     pt.  iii. 

it  was  only  an  ecclesiastical  matter,  and  the  Pope's  con- 
sent to  Catherine's  marriage  with  Henry  might  make  all 
right.     But  if  it  was  a  real  marriage,  then 

Secret  doubts         ,  ,  .  .  ,      -,  ,  ,    , 

about  its  the  second  marriage  with  Henry  would  be 

vaidity.  clearly  contrary  to  the  divine  law,  as  con- 

tained in  the  Book  of  Leviticus,  where  marriage  with  a 
brother's  wife  was  forbidden :  and  so,  in  that  case,  the 
question  would  be  whether  the  Pope  could  set  aside  the 
divine  law,  and  make  lawful  what  it  forbad.  To  do  this 
must  certainly  be  a  great  stretch  of  the  papal  power,  and 
it  only  could  be  justified  on  the  very  high  ground  of  the 
divine  authority  of  the  Pope. 

The   betrothal  of  Henry  to  Catherine  was  from  the 

beginning  a  miserable  affair.     Its  object  was  political. 

It  was.  his  father  Henry  VII. 's  doing  while 

Its  unsatisfac-  ^  " 

torj' beginning,  he  was  a  boy ;  and  so  doubtful,  to  say  the 
least,  was  its  validity  to  those  who  knew  all 
about  it,  that  to  Henry  VII. 's  superstitious  mind  the  death 
of  his  queen  seemed  a  divine  judgment  upon  it.  He 
even  then,  as  we  have  seen,  proposed  to  marry  Catherine 
himself,  but  Ferdinand  of  Spain  would  not  hear  of  it.  A 
bull  was  obtained  from  Pope  Julius  II.,  treating  the  ques- 
tion of  the  reality  of  the  former  marriage  as  doubtful,  but, 
notwithstanding  the  doubts,  sanctioning  Catherine's  mar- 
riage with  Henry.  The  betrothal  was  completed,  but 
the  wary  monarch  made  his  son  sign  a  secret  protest 
against  it  as  soon  as  he  was  of  age,  so  that  he  might  at 
any  time  set  it  aside  if  the  turn  of  political  events  made 
it  expedient  to  do  so.  We  must  remember,  however, 
that  some  of  these  matters  were  court  secrets,  and  would 
never  have  been  publicly  known  had  not  future  events 
brought  them  to  light. 

Upon  the  accession  of  Henry  VIII.  it  was  needful  for 
him  to  make  up  his  mind  about   his  marriage.      The 


CH.  II.  Revolt  of  E}tglaiid fro)ii  Rome.  175 

doubts  and  difficulties  remained  the  same  as  ever  to  those 
who  knew  all  about  it,  and  it  was  not  possible  to  dispel 
them.  But  the  alliance  with  Spain  was  still  considered 
important.  And  so  the  marriage  with  Catherine  was 
concluded.  The  public  were  told  that  the  former  mar- 
riage had  never  been  consummated,  and  that  Henry 
VIII.  was  acting  under  the  sanction  of  a  Papal  bull. 
This  silenced  talk  out  of  doors,  and  the  king  smothered 
any  secret  doubts  of  his  own,  relying  on  the  divine  au- 
thority of  the  Pope.  So  the  matter  was  concluded,  and 
now  for  years  had  not  been  questioned  again;  When, 
therefore,  Luther's  attack  upon  the  divine  authority  of 
the  Pope  was  attracUng  attention  every- 
where, we  see  that  Henry  VIII.  had  serious    rested  on  the 

r    ,   .  r  1    r        ^•  •  tt         Divine  autho- 

reasons  of  his  own  lor  defendmg  it.     He    rity  of  the 
knew  in  fact  that  the  validity  of  his  mar-    ^°P^" 
riage,  and  the  legitimacy  of  his  children's  rights  to  suc- 
ceed to  the  throne,  depended  upon  it. 

He  had  naturally  been  very  anxious  for  an  heir,  so 
that  his  throne  might  be  secure.     Unless  he  had  an  heir, 
people  must  be  thinking  who  will  be  king 
next,  and  plotting  to  succeed  to  the  throne,    .^^nxilty  about^ 
Henry  and  Catherine  had  had  several,  chil-    I.u(.^efsion 
dren,   but   all    had    died   except    one — the 
Princess  Mary — who,  at  the  time  of  the  Diet    And  anxiety  tt. 
of  Worms,  was  a  child  of  four  years  old.    te'rms°wi?h°the 
On  her  alone  the  succession  depended,  and   charles"v 
Henry  was  anxious  to  secure  it,  as  we  have 
seen,  by  a  close  alliance  with  the  Pope  and  Spain,  ce- 
mented by  the  marriage  of  the  Princess  Mary  to  Charles 
V.     Henry  VIII.  knew  that  the  succession  to  the  throne 
might  at  any  time  Vje  made  very  precarious  indeed  if  he 
should  ever  quarrel  with  the  Papal  and  Spanish  Courts. 

An  event  which  happened  about  this  time  showed  how 


176         Results  of  the  Protestant  Revolution,     pt.  in. 

keenly  alive  Henry  VIII.  was  to  these  anxieties  about 
^        .      ,      the   successsion  of  the  Princess  Mary.     He 

Execution  of 

the  Duke  of  Startled  the  world  all  at  once  by  the  execu- 
forhavfng^  tion  of  the  Duke  of  Buckingham  for  trea- 
his  eye  upon       ^^^     ^qj.  Slaving  his  eye  on  the  succession 

the  succes-  '  °  •' 

siontothe  to  the  throne.  The  Duke,  it  was  said, 
amongst  other  things,  had  been  heard  to 
speak  of  the  death  of  the  royal  children  as  judgments  on 
Henry  and  Catherine  for  their  marriage.  This  was 
enough  to  rouse  Henry's  suspicions,  and  so,  after  a 
formal  trial,  he  was  found  guilty  of  treason  and  be- 
headed as  a  warning  to  others. 

(<:)  Sir  Thomas  More  defends  Henry  VIII.  against 
Luther, 

Probably  the  secret  which   Henry  VIII.  confided  to 

Sir  Thomas  More  had  something  to  do  with  the  doubts 

^^       ,  about   the   validity    of    the    marriage,    and 

Effect  of  .  '  °   ' 

knowledge  of     Opened  his  eyes  to  the  fact  how  the  succes- 

viTl/s  se-         sion   to   the   throne   and  the   safety  of  the 

Th'm"  ^"^         kingdom   was   involved    in  the   divine   au- 

More's  tliority  of  the  Pope.     It  set  him,  as  we  have 

said,  studying  the  fathers  until  he  came  to 

the  conclusion  that  an  authority  which  had  long  been 

recognized,  and  on  which  so  much  depended,  must  have 

divine  sanction.      Having  come  to  this  conclusion,  he 

was  not  likely  to  be  made  more  favourable  to  Luther  than 

he  otherwise  would  have  been.     We  have  seen  that  the 

Oxford  Reformers  had  from  the  first  taken  high  ground 

on  the  necessity  of  unity  in  the  Christian  Church.    They 

had  also  always  been  opposed  to  the  Augustinian  views 

which    Luther  had   adopted.      They   had   agreed  with 

Luther  in  little  but  in  the  demand  for  "a  religious  and 

ecclesiastical  reform. 


CH.  11.  Revolt  of  England  from  Rome.  177 

Erasmus  had  refused  to  identify  himself  with  Luther, 
and  while  defending  him  up  to  a  certain  point  against 
the  Papal  party  had  urged  upon  him  moderation.  This 
advice  Luther  had  not  followed,  and  now  Erasmus  held 
aloof  from  the  Protestant  struggle,  urging  moderation  on 
both  sides,  preaching  unity,  and  going  on  quietly  with 
his  own  works,  amongst  which  were  fresh  editions  of  his 
New  Testament. 

It  is  not  surprising,  then,  that  when  Luther  wrote  his 
violent  reply  to  Henry  VIII. 's  book,  More  should  be 
ready  to  defend  it.  He  did  so,  and  as  time  went  on  his 
zeal  against  Luther  grew  by  degrees  almost  into  hatred. 
As  news  of  the  wild  doings  of  the  prophets  of  Zwickau 
and  the  horrors  of  the  Peasants'  War  were  reported  in 
England,  More  laid  the  blame  on  Luther.  He  regarded 
him  as  a  dangerous  fanatic,  scattering  everywhere  the 
seeds  of  rebellion  against  the  powers  that  be,  whether 
civil  or  religious. 

He  also  urged  his  friend  Erasmus  to  write  against 
Luther.  In  1524,  on  the  eve  of  the  Peasants'  War, 
Erasmus  did  write  a  book  against  Luther's    „ 

°      .  Keaction  in 

strong  Augustinian  views,  in  which  he  urged    the  minds  of 

,  ,  1         1    ,  11  J  r      Erasmus  and 

that  they  were  sure  to  lead  to  all  sorts  01    More  against 
abuses  in  wilder  hands.     In  the  year  of  the    Luther. 
Peasants'  War  Sir  Thomas  More  wrote  an  earnest  letter 
to  one  of  Luther's  supporters  in  Wittenberg,   charging 
the  Lutheran  movement  with  having  lit  the  flame  of  se- 
dition and  set  Germany  on  fire. 

It  is  sad  to  see  good  and  noble  men  like  More  hurried 
into  reaction,  and  unable  to  see  the  good  and  noble 
points  in  a  man  like  Luther,  as  well  as  his  violence  and 
errors.  But  it  was  not  unnatural.  He  dreaded  lest  the 
heresies  which  had  led  in  Germany  to  the  Peasants' 
War,  might  spread  into  England,  and  lest  heresy  and 
N 


178         Results  of  ilic  Protestant  Revolution,     pt.  hi. 

treason  should  again  be  joined  as  in  the  days  of  the 
Lollards.  His  judgment  was  no  doubt  to  some  extent 
carried  away  by  his  fears.  But  we  must  recognize  the 
sincerity  and  mental  reactions  such  as  these  in  the  lives 
of  good  men.  Each  class  of  Reformers  we  have  seen 
to  be  suspicious  of  those  who  went  further  and  faster 
than  they  did  themselves.  Honest  men  of  the  old  school 
blamed  Erasmus  for  all  that  happened.  Erasmus,  they 
said,  had  laid  the  ^ZZ'  ^^^  Luther  had  hatched  it.  Eras- 
mus, in  his  turn,  blamed  Luther's  violent  conduct  and 
language.  Luther  again  denounced  Miinzer  and  the  wild 
prophets  of  revolution,  as  well  as  the  poor  deluded  pea- 
sants. If  this  was  natural,  so  was  the  reaction  in  the 
mind  of  Sir  Thomas  More.  We  need  not,  however,  re- 
gret it  any  the  less  on  that  account. 

{(T)  Reasons  for  Henry  VIII.' s  ehange  of  Policy. 

Having  thus  seen  that  Henry  VIII.  from  policy,  and 
More  from  conviction,  were  at  this  time  strongly  in  fa- 
vour of  the  Pope  and  his  divine  authority,  the  next  thing 
is  to  mark  how  long  Henry  VIII.  continued  of  this 
mind.  The  answer  is,  Just  so  long  as  his  alliance  with 
Spain  continued. 

During  the  wars  of  the  Emperor,  the  Pope,  and  Henry 

VIII.  with   France,  Wolsey  (now  cardinal  and  legate, 

and  Archbishop  of  York,  and  soon  after  lord  chancellor 

also)  was  the  war  minister.     It  was  he  who 

Wolsey,  the 

great  war  kuew  all  the  mind  of  Henry  VIII.  and  car- 

H't"nry^vni.  ricd  on  his  secret  negotiations  with  Charles 
V.  and  the  Pope.  It  was  he  who  managed 
the  treachery  with  Francis  I.,  and  made  what  prepara- 
tion was  needful  for  royal  meetings,  embassies,  and 
wars.  It  was  Wolsey,  too,  who  had  to  manage  parlia- 
ments, and  urge  them  to  grant  subsidies  to  pay  for  the 


CH.  II.  Revolt  of  England  from  Rome.  \irj 

wars,  and  when  he  could  get  no  more  money  from 
Parhament  it  was  Wolsey  who  managed  to  get  it  by  le- 
gal means,  such  as  forced  contributions  from  private 
persons  called  '  benevolences.' 

More  was  a  novice  on  the  privy  council,    ,, 

More  opposed 

and  holding  Utopian  views,  often  in  a  mi-    to  the  wars 
nority  against  Wolsey's  measures.     Once  he 
was  alone  in  disapproval  of  the  great  minister's  plans. 
Wolsey  hinted  that  he  must  be  a  fool.  '  God  be  thanked,' 
replied  More,  '  that  the  king  has  but  one  fool    in  his 
council ! ' 

It  mattered  little  to  the  king  or  Wolsey  what  he 
thought,  but  More  took  care  to  let  the  king  know  that 
England's  joining  in  the  wars  with  France  was  against 
his  judgment. 

Wolsey's  and  Henry's  confidence  in  Charles  V.  was 
shattered  by  degrees.  First  came  the  treachery  of 
Charles  V.  in  not  helping  to  secure  the  dec-    ^,    ,     „ 

Charles  V.  s 

tion  of  Wolsey  as  Pope  on  the   death   of    treachery, 

Leo  X.  and  afterwards  of  Adrian  VI.   Then 

came  the  continuance  of  the  war  against  France,  under 

the  Duke  of  Bourbon,  who  flattered  Henry  with  hopes 

of  regaining  in  case  of  victory  the  lost  English  provinces 

in  France.     Next  came  Pope  Clement  VII. 's 

fast  and  loose  game  with  the  allied  sove-    Pope's '^ 

reigns ;  and  lastly,  the  battle  of  Pavia.     Of 

these  events  we  have  spoken  in  a  previous  chapter. 

On  hearing  the  news  of  the  capture  of  Francis  I.  at 
the  battle  of  Pavia,  Henry  VIII.  proposed  that  he  himself 
should  be  king  of  France  and  Charles  V.  marry  the 
Princess  Mary,  so  that  in  her  right  Charles  V.  might 
some  day  become  lord  of  all  Christendom.  Up  to  this 
moment  he  had  clearly  not  changed  his  mind.  He  still 
wished  to  continue  the  Spanish  alliance,  and  was  true  to 


i8o         RcsicUs  of  the  Protestant  Revolution,     pt.  hi. 

Catherine  and  the  Princess  Mary.  But  just  as  his  hopes 
were  at  their  highest  point  they  vanished  for  ever. 
Charles  V.  let  Francis  I.  resume  his  throne  on  conditions 
which  the  Pope  declared  to  be  null  and  void.  Charles 
v.,  instead  of  marrying  the  Princess  Mary,  married  the 
Infanta  of  Portugal,  and  Henry  found  him- 
VIII. 's  self  betrayed.     Charles  V.  and  the  Pope,  on 

poitcy"all  at  whose  alliance  so  much  depended,  had  now 
sea  again.  \,o'Cn  escaped  from  his  control.     When,  by 

the  conquest  of  Rome,  the  Pope  himself  soon  after  be- 
came Charles  V.'s  prisoner  and  tool,  Henry  VIII. 's  for- 
eign politics  were  indeed  all  at  sea. 

{e)    The  Crisis — Henry   VIII.  determines  upon  the 

Divorce  from  Catherine  of  Arragon. 

Now  look  at  Henry  VIII.'s  position.     Mary  was  still 

his  only  child.     There  had  never  yet  been  a  queen  on 

„  ,  ,  the  throne  of  England.  He  could  no  longer 
Results  of  *  " 

breach  with       rely  on  Charlcs  V.  and  the  Pope.     They  at 

any  time,  and  for  political  purposes,  and  in 
spite  of  Henry,  could  dispute  the  legitimacy  of  his  only 
daughter.  Once  more  the  succession  to  the  throne  was 
uncertain,  and  in  its  nature  the  uncertainty  could  not  be 
cured.     What  was  he  to  do  ? 

He  resolved  to  take  the  bull  by  the  horns,  to  divorce 
himself  from  Catherine  of  Arragon,  to  disinherit  Mary,  to 
Political  rea-  marry  a  young  maid  of  honour,  named 
vorce  from  '  Anne  Boleyn,  and  to  hope  for  other  heirs  to 
Catherine.  ^^iQ  crown.  It  was  a  bold  pohcy,  for  mar- 
riage was  a  matter  which  belonged  to  the  ecclesiastical 
empire,  and  so  the  divorce  required  the  Pope's  consent. 
Wolsey  set  his  wits  to  work  to  secure  the  Pope's  sanc- 
tion to  the  divorce.  He  got  his  own  ecclesiastical  power 
as  legate  increased  by  the  Pope,  and  Cardinal  Campeg- 


CH.  II.  Revolt  of  England  from  Rome.  i8i 

gio  over  from  Rome  to  join  him  in  deciding  on  the 
validity  of  the  marriage.  He  tried  every  means  to  se- 
cure the  divorce  required  by   Henry.     He    ,„  , 

^  _  •'        ^  Wolsey  tries 

had   no    notion    of  destroying   in    Henry's    to  get  the  Pope 

11  1  1        ■  1-1  1  i       to  grant  a  di- 

mmd  the  papal  authority  which  as  legate   vorce,  but 
he  wielded  in  part,  and  as  pope  still  hoped   ^^''^• 
some  day  to  wield  entirely.    Had  he  succeeded  in  obtain- 
ing the  papal  sanction,  there  would  have  been  no  breach 
with  Rome.     But  he  failed.     The  Pope,  at  the  bidding 
of  his  Spanish  conqueror,  made  endless  de-    Henry  viil. 

,  J/-  •  .  j-iUi-u  takes  the  mat- 

lays  ;  and  Campeggio  returned  without  hav-    ter  into  his 
ing  settled  anything.     At  last,  in  spite  of  all    °*"  *^ands. 
that  Wolsey  could  do,  Henry  VIII.  determined  to  mar- 
ry Anne  Boleyn,  and  took  the  matter  into  his  own  hands. 
This  involved  a  deliberate  breach  with  Rome  and  the 
fall  of  Wolsey.  Henry  VIII.  made  up  his  mind  to  face  both. 

(/)  Fall  of  Wolsey  {ij2p-isjo). 

Cardinal  Wolsey  had  been  the  very  type  of  an  over- 
grown ecclesiastical  potentate.  Second  to  none  but  the 
king,  he  had  assumed  to  himself  a  viceregal    „„  ^,„  , 

°  °         Fall  of  Wolsey. 

magnificence  and  state.  And  now  that  ec- 
clesiastical grievances  had  come  to  the  top,  and,  above 
all,  the  king  kimself  was  quarelling  with  the  Pope,  Wol- 
sey became  a  sort  of  scapegoat  for  both  ecclesiastical 
and  papal  sins.  He  was  condemned  formally  for  having 
used  his  legatine  and  ecclesiastical  authority  contrary  to 
the  royal  prerogative.  But  the  king  had  so  far  connived 
at  and  sanctioned  the  very  things  for  which  he  was  now 
condemned,  and  used  them  for  his  own  purposes,  that 
he  could  hardly  deal  very  harshly  with  his  old  minister. 
He  left  him  his  archbishopric  of  York,  to  which  he  re- 
turned in  1 530.  There  he  resumed  some  of  his  old  state, 
but  by  his  intrigues  to  obtain  popularity  amongst  the 


1 82         Results  ijf  t]ie  Protestant  Revolution.      pt.  ill. 

Northern  nobles  again  excited  the  fears  of  the  court. 
Messengers  were  sent  down  to  arrest  him  of  high  treason, 
and  he  was  on  his  journey  to  London  to  answer  the 
charge,  when,  seized  by  a  fever,  he  died  at  Leicester 
Abbey,  having  given  utterance  to  the  famous  words,  'Had 
I  served  my  God  as  I  have  served  my  king,  he  would 
not  have  given  me  over  in  my  gray  hairs  !  '  Henry 
VHL  was  not  conspicuous  for  gratitude  to  his  ministers. 

{g)    The  Parlia7neftt  of  \i,2g-i  ^2)^.     Revolt  of  England 

from  Rotne. 

Wolsey  was  dismissed  in  1529.     Hitherto  the  chief 

ministers  and  lord  chancellors  of  kings  of  England  had 

„.  ~,  been    ecclesiastics.      This    rule    was    now 

sir  Thomas 

More  lord  broken  through.    The  Dukes  of  Norfolk  and 

Suffolk  were  made  chief  ministers  and  Sir 
Thomas  More  lord  chancellor.  Lastly,  a  parliament  was 
called, 

A  crisis  had  come  in  English  history.    The  parliament , 
of  1529  was  to  England  what  the  Diet  of  Worms  might 
„   ,.  have  been  to  Germany.     The  English  Com- 

Parhament  r     i  •  i- 

of  1529.    A  mons  made  use  of  this  parliament,  as  the 

English  his-  Germans  did  of  the  Diet  of  Worms,  to  make 

oletof^  *^  complaints  against  the  clergy  and  the  eccle- 

Worms  in  siastical  courts.     For  a  long  time  the  people 

German  ,     ,.,         i        ^  i       i  •         i 

history.  of  England,  like  the  Germans,  had  resisted 

the  power  of  the  ecclesiastical  empire.     The  freedom  of 

the  clergy  from  the  jurisdiction  of  the  secular  courts  on 

the  one  hand,  the  jurisdiction  of  the  ecclesi- 

Complaints 

against  the         astical  courts  on  the  other  hand  over  laymen 

clergy  and  .  * ,  .  i_    ..  r 

ecclesiastical      m  such  matters  as  marriages,  probates  01 
abuses.  wills,    and    the    distribution    of    property 

amongst  the  next  of  kin  on  the  death  of  the  owner,  were 
real  and  long-standing  grievances.    The  clergy,  by  their 


CH.  II.  Revolt  of  England  from  Rome.  1S3 

ecclesiastical  courts,  harassed  and  taxed  the  people  be- 
yond endurance.    The  character  of  the  clergy  and  monks 
was  also  grievously  complained  of.     Wolsey 
had  sought,  as  Cardinal  Morton  had  done    attempts  at 

,      c  1  .         ^  c  ii  1  TT-  ecclesiastical 

before  him,  to  reform  these  abuses.     Him-  reform  under 

self  a  cardinal  and  legate,  he  had  sought  Pj^p^'  ^""^°- 
powers  from  the  Pope  to  repress  the  evils  ; 

to  visit  and  even  suppress  some  of  the  worst  and  pariia- 

^    ,  .  .  ,  ,  ment  now 

of  the  monasteries  and  correct  the  clergy  ;  take  up  the 
and  his  scheme,  partly  carried  out,  was  to  '"=^"'^'^- 
found  colleges  at  the  universities  out  of  the  proceeds. 
This  was  all  very  well  as  far  as  it  went,  but  it  never  went 
far  enough  to  be  of  much  use,  and  now  the  time  of  re- 
formation under  papal  authority  was  passed.  Both  king 
and  parliament  were  in  a  mind  to  undertake  themselves 
the  needed  ecclesiastical  reforms. 

A  petition,  describing  at  length  the  ecclesiastical 
grievances,  was  laid  by  the  Commons  before  the  king. 
The  king  submitted  it  to  the  bishops,  at  the    ^   .  . 

.  .   .  r       1      1  Petition  of 

same  time  requiring  henceforth  that  no  new    the  Com- 
law  should  be  passed  by  the  clergy  in  con-    "c"es?fs^-'"^' 
vocation,    any   more    than    in   parliament,    "'^^'  g"ev- 

'  ■'  f  '      ances. 

without  his  royal  consent.  The  bishops  tried 
to  explain  away  the  complaints,  but  before  parliament 
was  prorogued  acts  were  passed  fixing  at  reasonable  sums 
the  amounts  to  be  demanded  for  probate  of  wills  and 
funeral  fees,  prohibiting  the  clergy  from  engaging  in 
secular  business,  or  holding  too  many  benefices,  and 
obliging  them  to  reside  in  their  parishes. 

These  were  matters  of  practical  reform,  such  as  Colet 
had  urged  in  his  sermon  to  convocation  in  1511.  He 
had  urged  that  the  clergy  in  convocation    „      .    , 

J  °-'  Practical 

should  take  up  these  reforms,  and  reform    reforms. 
themselves.     They  had  let  eighteen  years  slip  by  without 


184         Results  of  the  Protestant  Revolution,     pt.  iii. 

doing  it,  and  now  the  bolder  power  of  Parliament  was 
over-ruling  their  feeble  opposition. 

Meanwhile  the  divorce  question  went  into  another 
phase.  Cranmer  now  came  on  to  the  scene.  He  was 
The  divorce  soon  to  be  the  chief  ecclesiastical  adviser  of 
beforlThi''''^  Henry  VIII.  He  consulted  the  chief  univer- 
Universities       sities  of  Europc  on  the  power  of  Pope  Julius 

by  Cranmer.  ,.  .,,,.., 

to  dispense  with  the  divine  law,  and  so  upon 
the  validity  of  the  marriage  with  Catherine.  The  Uni- 
versities gave  their  opinions  very  much  according  to  the 
influence  brought  upon  them.  The  English  and  French 
were  most  in  favour  of  Henry  VIII. 's  views.  The 
opinions  were  laid  before  parliament  in  1531,  but  nothing 
further  was  clone  that  year. 

In  its  next  two  sessions    this    celebrated   parliament 

proceeded  step  by  step  with  ecclesiastical 
reforms.  reforms.     The     greatest    of   all    legislative 

scandals,  benefit  of  clergy,  was  curtailed.     Payment  of 

annates  to  Rome  was  forbidden.     Appeals 

The  king 

declared  to  Rome  were  abolished.    Heretics  were  still 

head^oFthe  to  be  bumed,  but  speaking  against  the  Pope 
En"land°^  was  declared  no  longer  to  be  heresy.     The 

instead  of  king's  asscnt  was  made  necessary  to  eccle- 

siastical ordinances.  The  Pope's  jurisdiction 
in  England  was  abolished  and  transferred  to  the  king. 
Lastly  he  assumed  the  title  of  supreme  head  of  the 
Church  of  England,  which  was  finally  confirmed  by 
Parliament  in  1 534. 

The  king  meanwhile  determined  to  deal 

The  king        -  .  ,     ,  .  .  ^        ,     ,  ^     , 

marries  Anne  With  his  own  marriage.  In  dehance  01  the 
revok"of  ^  Pope,  he  married  Anne  Boleyn  in  January 
England  1 532-3.     The  marriage  with  Catherine  was 

from  Kome  jj       ~j  a 

is  now  com-       declared  null  and  void  by  Cranmer,   now 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  by  act    of 


CH.  II.  Revolt  of  England  from  Rome.  1S5 

parliament.  Thus  the  breach  with  Rome  was  complete. 
England  had,  in  fact,  revolted  from  the  ecclesiastical  em- 
pire, by  the  joint  action  of  king  and  parhament,  and  with 
the  assent,  however  reluctant,  even  of  the  clergy. 

{h)  Heresy  still  pxinished  in  England. 
Now  it  will  be  observed  that  all  this  came  to  pass 
without  any  change  of  religious  creed,  without  England 
becoming  Lutheran  or  Protestant.  All  the  while  heresy 
was  a  crime  against  which  king  and  parhament  and 
clergy  were  equally  severe.  The  breach  with  .^.^^^^  j^^^ 
Rome  made  no  difference  on  this  point,  ex-   been  no 

change  oi 

cept  that  speaking  against  the  Pope  was  no    religious 
longer  heresy.     There  was  as  stern  a  deter- 

.    .1  J      r    Heretics  still 

mination  as  ever  to  prevent  the  spread  01    persecuted, 
heresy  in  England.     Wolsey's  dying  advice   ^^"eVS/, 
to  Henry  VIII.  in  November  1 530  was  not  to    t^^e  transla- 

.'  ■'-^  tor  of  the 

let  the  new  pernicious  sect  of  the  Lutherans  New  Testa- 
spread  in  England.  Tindal,  the  noble  single-  '"^"  ' 
minded  Englishman  to  whom  we  owe  the  first  translation 
of  the  New  Testament  into  English,  was  all  this  while 
watched  and  tracked  and  persecuted  from  place  to  place 
as  a  dangerous  foe.  Fired  with  zeal  by  reading  the  New 
Testament  of  Erasmus,  to  give  the  English  people  access 
to  its  truths  in  the  "  vulgar  tongue,"  he  pursued  his  ob- 
ject with  a  heroism  and  patriotism  which  should  make  his 
name  dear  to  Englishmen.  Strange  was  it  that  one  of  his 
persecutors  was  Sir  Thomas  More,  who,  in  his  "Utopia," 
had  expressed  views  in  favour  of  religious  toleration. 

It  was  just  after  the  sack  of  Rome  that  More  pub- 
lished his  opinion  that  heresy,  being  dangerous  to  the 
state,  ought  to  be  punished  in  England,  lest    Sir  Thomas 
it  should  lead  to  similar  results  to  those  it  had   against  ^ 
led  to  on  the  Continent.     It  was  only  a  few    ^'-'''-''^y- 


1 86         Results  of  tlid  Protestant  Revolution,     pt.  iii. 

months  after,  that  when,  on  the  fall  of  Wolsey  in  1529,  he 
was  made  lord  chancellor,  he  had  to  swear  by  his  oath  of 
office,  amongst  other  things,  to  carry  out  the  laws  against 
heresy.  He  became  now,  by  virtue  of  his  office,  the 
public  prosecutor  of  heretics.  The  bishops  were  his  most 
active  police,  and  ever  and  anon  poor  men  were  handed 
over  to  him  for  examination  and  legal  punishment.  The 
times  were  barbarous.  Torture  was  used  in  the  examina- 
tion of  criminals  and  of  heretics  also,  and,  it  can  hardly 
be  doubted,  even  in  the  presence  of  Sir  Thomas  More. 
Yet,  in  a  certain  way,  More's  gentleness  showed  itself 
even  in  persecution.  By  the  law  of  the  land,  heretics 
must  abjure  or  be  burned.  More  tried  hard  to  save  both 
their  bodies  'and  souls.  He  used  every  ineans  in  his 
power  to  induce  them  to  abjure.  During  the  first  two 
years  of  his  chancellorship  he  staved  off  the  evil  day. 
Every  single  heretic  abjured  ;  no  single  fire  had  yet 
been  lit  in  Smithfield  during  his  rule  ;  but,  in  the  last  six 
months  of  it,  three  abjured  heretics  relapsing  into  heresy 
were  burned  under  his  authority,  the  dying  martyrs' 
prayers  rising  from  the  stake,  "  May  the  Lord  forgive  Sir 
Thomas  More  !"  "  May  the  Lord  open  the  eyes  of  Sir 
Thomas  More !" 

Strange  was  it  that  during  these  sad  months,  while 
More  was  persecuting  others  for  conscience'  sake,  he 
himself  had  to  choose  between  his  own  conscience  and 
death. 

(/)  Execution  of  Sir  Thomas  Afore  (1535). 
We  have  seen  that  he  had  come  to  the  conviction  that 
the  Pope  was  head  of  the  Church  by  divine  authority. 
,,      ^.      ,,     He  had  held  his  post  of  Lord  Chancellor  so 

More  himself  »^  •  i       j 

has  to  suffer  _    long  as  the  action  of  Parliament  mvolved 
^or^conscience     ^^^^  ^^^  much  needed  reform  of  ecclesias- 
tical abuses— till  1532.     But  so  soon  as,  in 


CH.  II.  Revolt  of  England fro7n  Rome.  187 

1532,  he  saw  the  breach  with  Rome  was  inevitable,  and 
that  Henry  VIII.  would  delay  no  longer,  he  resigned  the 
seals  and  retired  into  the  bosom  of  his  home  at  Chelsea 
— that  home  which  Erasmus  had  made  known  all  over 
Europe  as  a  pattern  in  respect  of  domestic  virtue,  cul- 
ture, and  happiness. 

More  had  firmly  told  the  king  that  he  disapproved  of 
the  divorce,  both  before  and  after  he  was  lord  chancel- 
lor. He  declined  to  be  present  at  Anne  Boleyn's  coro- 
nation ;  and  when  warned  and  threatened  by  order  of 
the  king,  his  brave  reply  was  that  threats  were  argu- 
ments for  cJiildrcn,  not  for  him.  When  the  oath  ac- 
knowledging Anne  Boleyn  as  the  lawful  wife  of  Henry 
VIII.  was  administered  to  him,  he  refused  to  take  it. 
Bishop  Fisher  alone  among  the  whole  bench    ,, 

^  °  More  and 

of  bishops  did  the  same.     More  and  Fisher    Fisher  sent 
were  therefore  sent  to  the  Tower.' 

Himself  in  prison  for  conscience'  sake,  More's  thoughts 
turned  to  the  heretics  against  whom  he  had  been  so  zea- 
lous ;  and  he  left  a  paper  for  his  friends  warning  them 
if  ever,  by  reason  of  their  office,  they  had  to  punish 
others,  not  to  let  their  zeal  outrun  their  charity.  It  was, 
perhaps,  a  confession  that  it  had  been  so  with  him.  He 
pondered  also  on  the  divisions  in  the  Church,  and  ex- 
pressed his  hopes  that  after  all  there  might  be  a  recon- 
ciliation between  Catholics  and  Protestants. 

His  wife  visited  him  in  prison,  and  reminded  him  of 
his  home  and  his  peril  in  not  taking  the  oath.  '  Good 
Mistress  Alice,'  he  replied  to  her,  'tell  me  one  thing:  Is 
not  this  house  as  nigh  heaven  as  mine  own  ?' 

His  beloved  daughter  Margaret  Roper  visited  him  of- 
ten, and  the  story  of  his  love  for  her  and  her  daughterly 
affection  for  him,  has  become  a  favourite  theme  of  his- 
torians, painters,  and  poets. 


1 88         Results  of  the  Protestant  Revolution,     pt.  ill. 

His  trial,  like  that  of  the  Duke  of  Buckingham,  was 
a  typical  Tudor  trial.  It  was  not  a  question  of  guilt  or 
innocence,  but  of  state  necessity.  Anne  Boleyn's  star 
being  in  the  ascendant.  Sir  Thomas  More  and  Bishop 
Fisher  must  die. 

This  is  Mr.  Froude's  account  of  More's  death  : 
'  The  four  days  which  remained  to  him  he  spent  in 
'  prayer,  and  in  severe  bodily  discipline.     On  the  night 
.      .      '  of  the   5th  of  July,  although  he   did   not 

Execution  of  "^  j      j  •  o 

Sir  Thomas  '  know  the  time  which  had  been  fixed  for 
'  his  execution,  yet,  with  an  instinctive  feel- 
'  ing  that  it  was  near,  he  sent  his  daughter  Margaret  his 
'  hair-shirt  and  whip,  as  having  no  more  need  of  them, 
'  with  a  parting  blessing  of  affection. 

'  He  then  lay  down  and  slept  quietly.  At  daybreak 
'  he  was  awoke  by  the  entrance  of  Sir  Thomas  Pope,  who 
'  had  come  to  confirm  his  anticipations,  and  to  tell  him 
'  that  it  was  the  king's  pleasure  that  he  should  suffer  at 
'  9  o'clock  that  morning.  He  received  the  news  with 
'  utter  composure.  "  I  am  much  bounden  to  the  king," 
'  he  said,  "  for  the  benefits  and  honours  he  has  bestowed 
' "  upon  me ;  and,  so  help  me  God,  most  of  all  am  I 
'  "  bounden  to  him  that  it  pleaseth  his  Majesty  to  rid  me 
'  "  shortly  out  of  the  miseries  of  this  present  world." 

'  Pope  told  him  the  king  desired  he  would  not  use 
'  many  words  on  the  scaffold.  "  Mr.  Pope,"  he  answered, 
'  "  you  do  well  to  give  me  warning ;  for,  otherwise,  I  had 
'  "  purposed  somewhat  to  have  spoken,  but  no  matter 
'  "  therewith  his  grace  should  have  cause  to  be  offended. 
' "  Howbeit,  whatever  I  intended,  I  shall  obey  his  High- 
'  "  ness'  command." 

'  He  afterwards  discussed  the  arrangements  for  his 
'  funeral,  at  which  he  begged  that  his  family  might  be 
'  present ;  and  when  all  was  settled,  Pope  rose  to  leave 


CH.  11.  Revolt  of  England  from  Rome.  189 

him.  He  was  an  old  friend.  He  took  More's  hand 
and  wrung  it,  and,  quite  overcome,  burst  into  tears. 

'  "  Quiet  yourself,  Mr.  Pope,"  More  said,  "  and  be  not 
"  discomfited,  for  I  trust  we  shall  once  see  each  other 
"  full  merrily,  when  we  shall  live  and  love  together  in 
"  eternal  bliss." 

'  So  about  9  of  the  clock  he  was  brought  by  the  lieu- 
tenant out  of  the  Tower,  his  beard  being  long,  which 
fashion  he  had  never  before  used — his  face  pale  and 
lean,  carrying  in  his  hands  a  red  cross,  casting  his  eyes 
often  toward  heaven.  He  had  been  unpopular  as  a 
judge,  and  one  or  two  persons  in  the  crowd  were  inso- 
lent to  him ;  but  the  distance  was  short,  and  soon  over, 
as  all  else  was  nearly  over  now. 

'  The  scaffold  had  been  awkwardly  erected,  and  shook 
as  he  placed  his  foot  upon  the  ladder.  "See  me  safe 
"  up,"  he  said  to  Kingston;  "for  my  coming  down  I 
"  can  shift  for  myself."  He  began  to  speak  to  the  peo- 
ple, but  the  sheriff  begged  him  not  to  proceed ;  and 
he  contented  himself  with  asking  for  their  prayers,  and 
desiring  them  to  bear  witness  for  him  that  he  died  in 
the  faith  of  the  holy  Catholic  Church,  and  a  faithful 
servant  of  God  and  the  king.  He  then  repeated  the 
Miserere  Psalm  on  his  knees ;  and  when  he  had  ended 
and  had  arisen,  the  executioner,  with  an  emotion  which 
promised  ill  for  the  manner  in  which  his  part  would  be 
accomplished,  begged  his  forgiveness.  More  kissed 
him,  "  Thou  art  to  do  me  the  greatest  benefit  that  I 
"  can  receive,"  he  said ;  "  pluck  up  thy  spirit,  man,  and 
"  be  not  afraid  to  do  thine  office.  My  neck  is  very 
"  short ;  take  heed,  therefore,  that  thou  strike  not  awry 
"  for  saving  of  thine  honesty."  The  executioner  offered 
to  tie  his  eyes.  "  I  will  cover  them  myself,"  he  said  ; 
and,  binding  them  in  a  cloth  which  he  had  brought 


IQO         Results  of  the  Protestant  Rcvohition.     pt.  iii. 

'  with  him,  he  knelt  and  laid  his  head  upon  the  block. 
'  The  fatal  stroke  was  about  to  fall,  when  he  signed  for  a 
'moment's  delay,  while  he  moved  aside  his  beard. 

'  "  Pity  that  should  be  cut,"  he  murmured,  "  that  has 
'  "  not  committed  treason."  With  which  strange  words — 
'  the  strangest,  perhaps,  ever  uttered  at  such  a  time — the 
'  lips  famous  through  Europe  for  eloquence  and  wisdom 
'  closed  for  ever.' 

{k)Death  of  Erasmus.  (1536). 
The  news  of  the  Death  of  Sir  Thomas  More  in  1535 
reached  Erasmus  in  old  age  and  suffering  from  illness, 
^  but  labouring  still  with  his  pen  to  the  last. 

Erasmus  .   . 

dies  soon  He  was  Writing  a  book  on  the  '  Purity  of  the 

Church,'  and  in  the  preface  he  described 
his  friend  as  '  a  soul  purer  than  snow.'  He  lived  only  a 
few  months  longer,  died  in  1536,  and  was  buried  in  the 
cathedral  at  Basle  with  every  token  of  respect. 

Not  forty  years  had  passed  since  Erasmus  had  first 
met  Coletat  Oxford,  and  since  the  three  Oxford  students 
^,         ,    ^      whom  for  the  sake  of  distinction  we  have 

The  work  of 

the  Oxford  Called  the  Oxford  Reformers,  jomed  heart 
had  pro-  'ind   soul    in   that   fellow-work   which   had 

resuTts^"^^^'  caught  its  inspiration  from  Florence.  How 
much  had  come  out  of  their  fellow  work  ! 
Colet,  the  one  who  brought  the  inspiration  from  Flo- 
rence, had  died  in  15 19,  before  the  crisis  came.  But 
even  then  the  work  of  the  Oxford  Reformers  was  already 
in  one  sense  done.  They  had  sown  their  seed.  The 
New  Testament  of  Erasmus  was  already  given  to  the 
world,  and  nothing  had  so  paved  the  way  for  the  Protes- 
tant Reformation  as  that  great  work  had  done.  Since 
Colet's  death,  Erasmus  and  More  had  never  met.  Each 
had  taken  his  own  line.     More  was  driven  far  further 


CH.  II.  Revolt  of  England  from  Rome.  191 

into  reaction  than  Erasmus.  After  the  Peasants'  War 
and  the  sack  of  Rome,  Erasmus  still  preached  tolerance 
on  the  one  hand,  and  satirized  the  monks  and  school- 
men on  the  other  hand.  And  his  satire  Avas  just  as 
bitter  in  these  later  writings  as  it  had  been  in  the 
'  Praise  of  Folly.'  But  he  too,  like  More,  held  on  to 
their  old  hatred  of  schism,  preached  concord  in  the 
Church,  and  longed  for  a  reconciliation  between  the 
contending  parties. 

(/)  Dissolution  of  the  Monasteries,  and  Reform  of  the 
Universities  1536. 

The  bitter  satire  of  Erasmus  upon  the  monks  bore 
fruit  sooner  than  he  himself  expected,  and  especially  in 
England.     The  necessity  of  a  thorough  re-   ^, 

.     ^     .        .  .^  *  The  work  set 

form  m  the   monasteries    was    now   every,    a  going  by 
where   acknowledged,    and    there   was    no    Reformers 
longer  any  reason  to  wait    for    bulls   from   ^""  °"' 
Rome  before  beginning  the  work.     The  king  was  in  a 
mood  to  humble  the  monks.     The  bishops  and  secular 
clergy  had  bowed  their  heads  to  the  royal  supremacy. 
The  time  now  for  the  monks  and  abbots  had  come. 

Within  a  few  months  of  More's  death,  a  commission 
was  issued  by  Thomas  Cromwell  (the  minis- 

,  .  ^       ,  Cromwell, 

ter  who  was    now    vicegerent  of   the    new    now  ecciesi- 

royal  ecclesiastical  authority),  for  a  general    fer  of  Henry" 

visitation  of  the  monasteries.  viii.,  in- 

quires into 
The  popular  complaints  against  them  were    the  state  of 

not  found  to  be  baseless.    Scandal  had  long   teries. 

been  busy  about  the  morals  of  the  monks. 

The  commissioners  found  them  on  inquiry  worse  even 

than  scandal  had  whispered,  and  reported  to  Parliament 

that  two-thirds  of  the  monks  were  leading  vicious  lives 

under  cover  of  their  cowls  and  hoods. 


192         Results  of  the  Protestant  Revolutio7i.     pt.  iii. 

Erasmus,  in  his  '  Colloquies,'  had  spread  all  over 
Europe  his  suspicions  that  the  relics  by  which  the  monks 
attracted  so  many  pilgrims,  and  so  much  wealth  in  offer- 
ings to  their  shrines,  were  false  and  their  miracles  pre- 
.    ,  tended.     He  had  visited  and  described  both 

And  into  ,.   ,  , 

shrines  and  the  two  great  English  shrines  of  '  St. 
Thomas  ^  Becket '  and  '  Our  Lady  of 
Walsingham,'  and  had  dared  to  hint  that  the  congealed 
milk  of  the  Virgin  exhibited  at  the  one  was  a  mixture  of 
chalk  and  white  of  ^gg,  and  that  the  immense  wealth 
of  the  other  would  be  of  more  use  if  given  to  the  poor. 
The  result  of  the  royal  inquiry  convinced  Henry  VIII. 
that  the  'milk  of  our  Lady'  was  'chalk  or  white  lead,' 
and  that  Thomas  ^  Becket  was  no  saint  at  all,  but  a 
rebel  against  the  royal  prerogative  of  Henry  II. 

The  result  of  the  visitation  was  the  dissolution  at  once 
^.     ,    .       ,     of  the  smaller,  and  a  few  years  afterwards 

Dissolution  of 

the  monaste-  of  the  larger  monasteries,  the  monks  being 
struction  of  pensioned  off,  and  the  remainder  of  their 
shrines.  \2l?X  cstatcs  being  vested  in  the  king. 

The  universities  as  well  as  the  monasteries  were  visited 
by  the  Commissioners,  and  that  reform  was  carried  out 
„  ,        ,  ,      at  the  universities  which  Colet,  forty  years 

Reform  of  the  ^     r       1  <• 

Universities.  before,  had  begun  at  Oxford ;  a  reform 
which  converted  them  from  schools  of  the 
old  into  schools  of  the  new  learning.  '  The  learning  of 
the  wholesome  doctrines  of  Almighty  God  and  the  three 
tongues,  Latin,  Greek,  and  Hebrew,  which  be  requisite 
for  the  understanding  of  Scripture,'  were  specially  en- 
joined, while  the  old  scholastic  text-books  became  waste 
paper  and  were  treated  as  such. 

These  were  the  final  labors  of  the  memorable  Parlia- 
,     ment  which  begun  in  1 520,  accomplished  the 

Parliament  of  ,      ^  ^'^  •',  -^  i-         i        i 

1529-36  revolt  from  Rome,  and  was  now  dissolved 

dissolved.  .  ^ 

in  1530. 


CH.  II.  Revolt  of  Englaiid from  Rome.  193 

One  step  further  the  Reformation  went  under  Cran- 
mer  and  Cromwell.     In  1536  the  Scriptures   ^ 

.  ,         „       ,.   ,  .  .    Tindal  s  trans- 

themselves,  m   the   English   translation   of  lationofthe 
Tindal,  revised   and  completed   by  Cover-   sanctioned, 
dale,  were  ordered  to  be  placed  in  every 
church,  and  the  clergy  were  instructed  to  exhort  all  men 
to  read  them.     Thus  England  owes  the  basis  of  her  no- 
ble translation  of  the  Bible  to  William  Tindal.     He  lived 
to  see  it  thus  published  by  royal  authority,    ,, 

,.       ^  ,,  .     .  .         .        Martyrdom  of 

but  soon  after  fell  a  victim  to  persecution  in    Tindal. 
Flanders,  and  ended   his  heroic   life   in  a 
martyr's  death. 

(;;/)    Later   Years  of  Henry  VIII.  (i  536-1 547). 

In  1536  Queen  Catherine  died,  and  in  the  same  year 
the  still  more  miserable  Anne  Boleyn  was 
divorced,  and,  with  the  partners  of  her  al-   Anne"Bol"yn. 
leged  guilt,  beheaded. 

The  sole  offspring  of  this  ill-fated  marriage  was  the 
Princess  Elizabeth,  and  she  now,  like  the  Princess  Mary, 
was  declared  illegitimate,  and  thus  the  succession  was 
again  uncertain. 

To  meet  this  difficulty  the  king  married  his  third 
queen,  yatte  Seymour,  and  parliament  set-    ,, 

,     1     ,  •  -i  rr        ■  ,     Henry  VIII. 

tied  the  succession  upon  her  offspring,  and    marries  Jane 
in  default  of  a  direct  heir,  upon  such  person     ^y"""""- 
as  Henry  VIII.  should  name  in  his  will. 

Meanwhile,  this  time  of  renewed  unsettlcmcnt  was 
chosen  by  the  papal  party  for  a  general  rebellion,  known 
as  '  The  Pilcrpnaee  of  Grace.'     Reforms  had 

^         -*      -^  ,  ,         A  Catholic  re- 

gone  too   fast  for  many.     It  was  not  to  be    bdiion  breaks 

expected  that  so  great  a  change  should  meet    Nor't"/  ^ 

with   no   opposition.      It  would  have  been 

strange   if  Sir   Thomas    More   and    Bishop  Fisher  had 

o 


194         Results  of  the  Protestant  Revolution,     ft.  hi. 

been  the  only  martyrs  on  the  papal  side.     The  rebellion 
was  chiefly  in  Lincolnshire  and  Yorkshire.    It  was  headed 
by  some  of  the  old  aristocracy,  and  no  doubt  was  fo- 
mented by  the  issue  just  before  of  a  papal 

fomented  by  '■     '■ 

the  Pope  and     buU   of    excommunication    against    Henry 

Reginald  Pole.     ,rTTT  ii  •  re-  -i 

Vlll.,  and  by  expectations  of  foreign  aid. 
Reginald  Pole,  a  relation  of  the  king's,  and  afterwards 
legate  and  Cardinal  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  under 
Queen  Mary,  did  his  best,  under  papal  encouragement, 
to  bring  about  a  holy  war  against  England,  and  thereby 

enforce  obedience  to  the  papal  power.     But 

It  IS  quelled.  . 

these  schemes  of  war  from  without  came  to 
nought,  and  the  insurrection  within  was  promptly  met 
and  quelled.  The  royal  supremacy  was  vindicated  by 
the  execution  of  the  chief  rebels,  and  the  Catholic  reac- 
tion thus  postponed  till  the  days  of  Queen  Mary. 

Probably  the  birth  at  this  moment  of  a  long-desired 
prince  (afterwards  Edtuard  VI.),  did  as  much  as  the 
Birth  of  execution  of  the  rebels  to  assure  the  stability 

Edward  VI.        ^f  Henry's  throne.    But  it  cost  the  hfe  of  the 

and  death  ol  ■' 

the  Queen.  queen-mother,  and  niade  another  marriage 
a  state  necessity.  While  Cromwell  was  pursuing  his 
Henry  VIII.  policy,  dissolving  the  remaining  monasteries, 
marries  demolishincT  the  shrines  of  Walsingham  and 

Anne  of  "  ° 

Cleves,  Canterbury,  and  transferring  their  wealth  to 

the  royal  exchequer,  he  had  once  more  to  arrange  a 
match  for  Henry.  His  choice  fell  upon  Anne  of  Cleves,  a 
connexion  of  the  Elector  of  Saxony.  It  fell  in  with  Crom- 
well's policy  to  use  the  opportunity  to  bring  about  a  Prot- 
estant alliance,  and  Henry  married  in  1 539  Anne  of  Cleves. 
But  how  was  it  likely  that  he  should  fall  in  love  with 
a  fourth  wife  who  was  plain-looking  and  spoke  not  a  word 
,      ,  of  English  ?     He  soon  was  weary  of  his  new 

but  does  not  °  •'  ^ 

like  her.  match,  and  as  Wolsey  was  sacrificed  to  se- 


CH.  II.  Revolt  of  England  from  Rome.  195 

cure  the  divorce  of  Catherine,   so  Cromwell  was  now 
sacrificed  to  secure  a  divorce  frorn  Anne  of    Cromwell 
Cleves.    Another  Tudor  trial,  with  less  show   sacrificed  to 

get  nd  of  her. 

of  justice  even  than  those  of  the  Duke  of 
Buckingham  and  Sir  Thomas  More,  paved  the  way  for 
the  state  necessity.  Cromwell,  like  Cranmer,  had  been 
all  along  half  a  Protestant  at  heart.  Unless  he  had  been, 
he  could  hardly  have  carried  through  as  he  did  for  the 
king,  the  successful  revolt  of  England  from  the  ecclesi- 
astical empire  of  Rome.  The  king  had  profited  by  that, 
but  he  now  meant  to  profit  by  Cromwell's  fall.  So  Crom- 
well died  upon  the  scaffold  as  a  traitor. 

Henry  was  soon  rid  of  Anne  of  Cleves.     The  Pro- 
testant alliance  fell  through.    A  sort  of  reconciliation  was 
made  with  Charles  V.,  who  naturally  hated  Cromwell 
more  even  than  he  had  distrusted  Wolsey.     And  a  sort 
of  colour  of  religion  was  given  to  the  whole    Reconcilia- 
proceeding  by  the  more  stringent  repression    Ji°"  '\^'^\ 
of  those  heresies  towards  which  the  fallen 
minister  was  said  to   have  been  unduly  lenient.     This 
was  in  1 540. 

The   king  now  married   the    guilty  and    unfortunate 
Catherine  Howard,  whose   turn  to  die  on   the  scaffold 
came  (so  soon!)  in  1542;  and  then  at  last    Henry 
came  the  final  marriage  with  Catherine  Parr,    viii.'s  last 

°  two  mar- 

a  virtuous  widow,  who  proved  an  honoura-    riages. 
ble  and  efficient  royal  nurse  during  the  king's  few  re- 
maining years. 

These  years  of  his  decaying  health  were  marked  by 
the  renewal  of  the  alliance  with  Charles  V.  and  breaches 
of  peace  with  Francis  I.     Henry's  foreign    Alliance 
policy  ended   as  it    had  begun   under   the   ^''|'  Spain, 

*  ^  _  °  and  wars 

shadow  of  Spanish  ascendancy,  threatened   with  France. 
English  invasion  of  France,  French  retaliative  invasions 


196         Results  of  the  Protestant  Revolution,     pt.  iii. 

of  England,  and  financial  difficulties  which  always  fol- 
lowed in  the  wake  of  war.  The  treasures  of  Henry  VII. 
sufficed   not  to  supply  the    means    for    Henry   VIII. 's 

early  wars  with  France.     So  again,  in  spite 
Want  of  ■'  ,  ^ 

money.  of  the  Wealth  which  came  to  the  Crown  from 

the  dissolution  of  monasteries  and  the  destruction  of  the 

shrines,  the  king  in  his  last  years  found  himself  with  an 

empty  exchequer,  and  obliged  to  debase  the  coinage  to 

^     ,    ,  obtain  the  supplies  he  wanted.     He  died  in 

Death  of  ^^ 

Henry  VIII.  Jan.  1 547 — the  year  after  the  death  of  Luther, 
>n  1547-  jygj.  ^g  Q\^J\[  war  broke  out  in  Germany,  and 

Charles  V.  set  about  conquering  Germany  with  his 
Spanish  soldiers. 

While  Germany  was  passing  through  this  struggle, 
England  was  becoming  more  and  more  Protestant,  under 
Reform  goes  *-^^  guidance  of  Cranmer,  who  managed  the 
on  during  ecclesiastical  affairs  of  England  in  the  short 

the  reign  01 

Edward  VI.       reign  of  Edward  VI. 

But  a  reaction  was  to  follow.  On  Edward  VI. 's  death 
in  1553  the  Princess  Mary  became  queen, 
reaction  under  A  Catholic  herself,  and  the  wife  of  Philip  II. 
yueen  ary.  ^^  Spain,  she  restored  the  Catholic  faith  in 
England,  and  tried  to  quench  the  English  Protestant 
spirit  in  blood.  But  she  died  in  1558 — the  same  year  as 
^    ,     J  ^         Charles  V. — and  under  her  successor,  the 

tngland  be- 
comes finally      Protestant  Queen   Elizabeth,    the  revolt  of 

unde^/Queen  England  from  Rome  became  once  for  all  an 
Elizabeth.  established  fact.     Thenceforth,  both  in  po- 

litics and  in  doctrine,  England  was  a  Protestant  state. 

{n)  Influence  of  Henry  VIII.' s  reign  on  the  English 
Constitiitiott. 

It  has  been  sometimes  said  that  Henry  VIII. 's  reign 
was  the  reign  of  a  tyrant,  and  that  during  his  reign  the 


CH.  II.  Reiwlt  of  Engla7idfro77i  Rome.  197 

English   parliament   was    subservient    and 

How  far  the 

cringing  to  the  monarch.  constitution 

To  judge  of  this  matter  rightly  we  must   ^tned'.^'"' 
remember  that  England  was  passing  through 
a  great  crisis  in  her  history  which  we  have  likened  to 
that  which  was  marked  by  the  Diet  of  Worms  in  Ger- 
man history.     How  different  the  English  from  the  Ger- 
man result !    At  the  Diet  of  Worms  the  Em-    _ 

Ine  revolt 

peror  and  princes  acted  in  opposition  to  the    from  Rome 

,-  1        ,1  r  accomplished 

German  people  ;  the  necessary  reforms  were  by  constitu- 
not  made,  and  so  there  came  revolution.  In  ''°"'''  '"'^^"^• 
the  parliament  of  1529-36  the  king  and  House  of  Com- 
mons acted  together,  and  made  the  necessary  reforms ; 
the  clergy  submitted  to  them  when  they  saw  they  must, 
the  dissolution  of  the  monasteries  removed  the  abbots 
from  the  House  of  Lords  and  placed  the  lay  lords  in  a 
majority,  and  so  in  the  end  England  was  forced  from 
the  yoke  of  the  ecclesiastical  empire  of  Rome  by  con- 
stitutional means,  without  the  revolutions  and  civil  wars 
which  followed  in  Germany. 

That  such  a  revolution  was  peaceably   wrought  by 
parliament  under  the  guidance  of  the  king's 
ministers,  Cromwell  and  Cranmer,  sustained   partirment  ° 
by  most  important  precedents  the  power  of  ""^'n'^'ned. 
parliament  in  the  constitution. 

During  his  wars,  Henry  VHT.'s  ministers,  especially 
Wolsey,  resorted  to  benevolences  and  forced  loans  to 
obtain  supplies.      But  the  fall   of  Wolsey, 

,  ,  .  ,  .  -  It  preserved  its 

and  on  later  occasions  the  sanction  of  par-   control  over 
liament  obtained  afterwards  by  way  of  in-    '^*^'*"""- 
demnity  for  acts  admitted  to  be  illegal,  kept  up  the  con- 
stitutional principle  that  the  king  could  levy  no  taxes 
without  the  consent  of  parliament.     The  real  struggle 
on  this  matter  came  in  the  days  of  the  Stuarts. 


1^3         Results  of  the  Protestant  Rci'olution.     pt.  iii. 

The  new  ecclesiastical  powers  of  the  king  as  supreme 
head  of  the  Church  gave  rise  to  new  branches  of  juris- 
.    ,         ,        diction,  some  of  which  were  of  a  dangerous 

And  over  the  _  ,  ° 

making  of  kind.  Parliament  also,  by  statute,  gave  to 
the  king's  proclamation,  within  a  very  re- 
stricted range,  the  force  of  statutes,  but  this  was  repealed 
in  the  next  reign.  And  on  the  whole,  the  second  great 
constitutional  principle  on  which  English  freedom  is 
based  was  well  maintained ;  viz.,  that  the  king  could 
make  no  new  laws  without  consent  of  parliament, 

Bearing  these  things  in  mind  it  would  be  hard  to  deny 
^    ,      ,  ,       that  the  parliaments  of  Henry  VIII.  deserve 

On  the  whole  ^  ■' 

the  parliaments  tolerably  wcll  of  Englishmen,  considering 
deserve'^well  of  the  grcatncss  of  the  crisis  through  which 
Englishmen.  ^^  \)Zx\l  of  the  State  had  to  be  steered  in 
their  time. 

The  greatest  blots  upon  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.  were 

the  unjust  trials  for  treason  by  which  the  most  faithful 

of  ministers  were  sacrificed  to  clear  away 

Unjust  State  ,  ,•        "         i      ,  , 

trials  the  chief  obstaclcs  to  royal  policy,  and  the  way  that 
reign  of  Henry  Sometimes  justice  was  sacrificed  to  the  per- 
^^^^-  sonal  wishes  or  even  passions  of  the  king  in 

connexion  with  his  unhappy  matrimonial  caprices. 

These  things  will  always  stain  the  memory  of  Henry 
VIII.,  but  regarding  his  reign  as  a  whole  it  would  be 
England  fared  Unfair  to  forget  that  in  it  a  great  crisis  was 
[hanVrance  passcd  through  without  civil  war,  which  left 
and  Spain.  England  freed  from  the  ecclesiastical  em- 
pire of  Rome,  and  under  a  constitutional  monarchy, 
while  France  and  Spain  were  left  to  struggle  for  cen- 
turies more  under  the  double  tyranny  of  the  ecclesiasti- 
cal empire  and  their  own  absolute  kings. 


CH.  III.  Denmai'k  and  Sioeden.  199 


CHAPTER  HI. 

REVOLT    OF    DENMARK   AND    SWEDEN    AND     (lATER)    OF 
THE   NETHERLANDS. 

[a]  Denmark  and  Swede7i  [j^2j-lj6o). 
Denmark   and  Sweden  both  revolted  from  Rome,  but 
under  peculiar  circumstances.     From  1520  to  1525  they 
had  both  been  governed  by  one  kin^ — a    „   ,  ^ 

b  3  a  g(^(j,  Denmark 

wretched  tyrant — Christian  II.,  who  legally    and  Sweden 
had   little   power,   but   following  the   royal   yoke  of  Chris- 
fashion  of  the  day,  tried  to  make  himself  an    'If"  ^^-  ^"'^^ 

'  '  then  separate. 

absolute  monarch.     Denmark  and  Sweden 

both  rebelled,  dethroned  Christian   II.,  and  then  went 

their  several  ways. 

In  Sweden  the  people,  /.  e.  the  citizens  and  then  the 
peasantry,  were  sick  of  the  tyranny  of  their  nobles  and 
clergy,  as  well  as  their  king,  and  sighed  for   The  Swedes 
a  good  king  strong  enough  to  curb  them,    vasa  thd^^"^ 
It  was  the  old  story,  what  the  citizens  and    '^'"S 
peasantry  of  Germany  had  long  sighed  for  in  vain.     But 
in  Sweden  they  got  what  they  wanted.     They  elected  as 
king  Gustavus  Vasa,  a  noble  who  had  taken  the  popular 
side  against  their  former  tyrant ;  and  having  elected  him, 
they  backed  him  in  carrying  out  in  Sweden  very  much 
the  same  sort  of  reforms  as  Henry  VIII.  had    Sweden,  under 
carried  out  in   England.     The  clergy  were    a'pr'otMtam" 
humbled,  their  property  seized  by  the  crown,    nation, 
and  Sweden,  roused  to  a  sense  of  national  life  under 
Gustavus  Vasa,  took  its  place  among  modern  nations.  It 
was  soon  to  play  a  prominent  part  in  the  great  struggle 
between  Catholic  and  Protestant  powers.     The  Swedish 
king,   Gustavus  Adolphus,  was  the  greatest  of  the  Pro- 
testant leaders  in  the  Thirty  Years'  War. 


200         Results  of  tJie  Protestant  Reiwlution.     pt.  hi. 

In  Denmark  also  (and  Norway  was  under  the  same 
crown)  a  new  monarchy  succeeded  to  that  of  the  ex- 
Denmark  al?o,  pelled  tyrant.  The  nobles  joined  the  crown 
Wntberom::  in  crushing  the  power  of  the  clergy.  The 
Protestant.  Danish  monarchy  became  established  on  the 
ruins  of  the  Church.  Lutheranism  was  encouraged. 
Denmark  became  a  Protestant  state,  and  took  part,  like 
Sweden,  on  the  Protestant  side  in  the  Thirty  Years'  War. 

{b)    The  Revolt  of  the  Netherla^ids  [ij8i). 

The  last  of  the  revolts  from  Rome  was  that  of  the 
Netherlands.  It  was  a  revolt  not  only  from  Rome  but 
also  from  Spain.  It  does  not  fall  altogether  within  the 
limits  of  the  era,  and  so  requires  only  brief  notice  here. 

Philip  II.,  king  of  Spain  and  husband  of  the  English 
queen  Mary,  tried  to  enforce  the  double  yoke  of  Spain 
and  Rome  upon  the  Netherlanders.  The  Netherlands, 
it  will  be  remembered,  belonged  to  the  Burgundian  pro- 
„  ,.      ^  vinces  which  came  to  the  Spanish  crown  by 

Policy  of  \. 

Philip  II  to  the  marriage  alliance  of  the  mother  of 
Nether-  ^  Charlcs  V.  He  was  a  Netherlander,  and  as 
Spalnlnd  to  such  popular ;  but  his  son,  Philip  II.,  was  a 
Rome.  Spaniard,  and    felt  to  be  a  foreign  tyrant. 

He  had  entered  into  close  alliance  with  Rome.  If  he 
could,  he  would  have  conquered  all  countries  which  had 
revolted  from  Rome ;  and  in  restoring  them  to  Rome, 
he  would  have  liked  to  have  made  them  into  Spanish 
provinces.  It  was  in  pursuance  of  these  ideas  that  he 
encouraged  Queen  Mary's  restoration  of  the  Catholic 
faith  in  England,  and  sent  his  'Spanish  Armada'  to 
conquer  the  Protestant  Queen  Elizabeth.  In  the  same 
spirit  he  sent  his  cruel  minister,  the  Duke  of  Alva,  to 
force  into  submission  his  rebellious  subjects  in  the 
Netherlands,  and    to  fasten  on  their  necks  the  double 


CH.  IV.  The  Genevan  Reformers.  201 

yoke  of  Spain  and  Rome.     The  result  was    -j.,^      ^^^jj 
the  revolt  of   the    Netherlands    under    the    and  the 

,    _  A  r  -11  '  United 

Prince  of  Orange.      After  a  terrible  strug-    Provinces' 
gle,  it  was  at  last  successful,  and  ended  in    Prototann 
the  complete  escape  of    the  northern  pro-    nation. 
vinces  from  both  the  Spanish  and  Papal  yoke.      This 
was  in   1581.     From  that  date  the  'United  Provinces' 
took  their  place,  like  Sweden  and  Denmark,  among  the 
Protestant  nations  of  Europe. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE   GENEVAN   REFORMERS. 

[a]  Rise  of  a  new  School  of  Refonn. 

The  force  of  the  Protestant  Revolution  was  not.  wholly 
spent  in  these  national  revolts  from  Rome. 

Although   apart  from   them  there   was   a   Protestant 
movement  going  on  in  the  minds  of  the  peo-   ^  Protestant 
pie,  both  in  those  nations    which    revolted   "novement 

'^  which  was 

from  Rome  and  in  those  which  did  not.  not  national. 

We  must  now  turn  our  attention  to  the  rise  of  a  new 
school  of  reform,  which  led  to  remarkable  results. 
Luther  was  too  national — too  German — a  reformer,  to 
admit  of  his  becoming  the  universal  prophet 

/-  T->  ■  ii  ,  1  1        -A  '^"'  which 

of  Protestantism  all  over  the  world.  Den-  influenced 
mark,  Sweden,  and  Norway,  coming  under  fertantsof 
German    influence,    did     indeed     become    E''^'?"', 

'  hngland, 

Lutheran;  but   the  Protestants   of  France,    Scotland, 
England,  Scotland,  and    America  are    not    more  than 
and    never  have  been   Lutherans.      They      "'  "   '  " 
came   more   under  the   influence  of  the    Genevan    re- 
formers, of  whom  we  must  now  speak. 


202         Rcstills  of  the  Protestant  Revolution,     pt.  iii. 

[b)    yohn   Calvin, 

The  chief  of  these  was  John  Calvin.  He  was  a 
Frenchman,  born  in  1509,  and  so  was  twenty-five  years 
Tohn  Calvin,  younger  than  Luther.  He  was  educated  at 
born  1509.  ^.j^g    universities    of     Paris     and     Orleans, 

adopted  the  Augustinian  theology,  as  Wiclif,  Huss,  and 
Luther  had  done  before  him,  and  became  a  Protestant. 
In  France  heretics  were  burned,  so  he  left  his  home  to 
travel  in  Italy  and  Germany.  In  1536,  just  as  Erasmus 
was  passing  to  his  rest,  he  came  to  Basle,  and  began  his 
„.  <  T  public  work  as    a   Protestant    reformer  by 

His  '  In-  "^         .       .  .  ■' 

stitutes,'  publishing  his  '  Institutes  of    the  Christian 

which  gave  _    ,.    .         .       t.  i  ,  t        •  .      r  ---    i 

logical  form  Religion.  It  was  these  Institutes  of  Cal- 
•  Ca^vinistic '  ^^^  which  gave  rigid  logical  scholastic  form 
doctrines.  to  thosc  Augustinian  doctrines  which,  as  we 

have  said,  were  held  in  common  by  most  Protestant 
reformers  from  Wiclif  to  Luther,  but  which  have  been 
since  called  'Calvinistic'  He  differed  from  Luther  both 
in  theory  and  practice,  on  those  points  about  which 
Zwingle  and  Luther  had  quarrelled.  He  rejected  tran- 
substantiation,  which  Luther  did  not  altogether ;  and  he 
founded  his  Church,  like  Zwingle,  on  the  republican 
basis  of  the  congregation  rather  than,  as  Luther  did,  on 
the  civil  power  of  the  prince.  He  thus  was  in  a  sense 
more  Protestant  than  Luther,  though  at  that  time  only 
the  Lutherans  were  called  Protestants. 

Geneva  soon  became  the  sphere  of  his  actions.  It  was 
in  a  state  of  anarchy,  having  rebelled  from  its  bishop, 
^  ,  ,        who  had  been  practically  both  ecclesiastical 

Calvin  settles 

at  Geneva.         and  civil  ruler  in  one.     Other  French  re- 
formers had  settled  at  Geneva  before  Calvin, 
and  these  shared   his  stern  Protestant  doctrines.      But 
Calvin  soon  proved  the  most  powerful  preacher.     Like 


CH.  IV.  The  Genevan  Reformers.  203 

Savonarola,  he  rebuked  the  vices  of  the  people  from  the 
pulpit.     At  first  this  made  him  unpopular,    „ 

*       ^  .  .  ^     ^  Becomes  a 

and  he  was  driven  away;  but  in  1541  he  was    kind  of  dictator 

,,,,,,  ,  1  1  ,.       of  the  Genevan 

recalled  by  the  people,  and  made   practi-   state. 
cally  both  civil  and  religious  dictator  of  the 
little  state. 

He  was  in  a  sense  Protestant  Pope  of  Geneva,  but  de- 
riving his  power  from  the  congregation.  He  and  his 
consistory  held  it  their  duty  to  force  men  to  lead  moral 
lives,  go  to  church,  give  up  dice,  dancing,    ^^. 

1  "'^  severe  dis- 

swearing,  and  so  forth;  and  the  council  of  cipiine  andin- 
the  city  supported  this  severe  exercise  of  ec- 
clesiastical power  by  their  civil  authority.  Thus  for 
twenty  years  Geneva  was  under  the  rule  of  Calvin  and 
his  fellow  '  saints ;'  and  an  intolerant  despotic  rule  it  was. 
Men  were  excommunicated  for  insulting  Calvin,  and  sent 
to  prison  for>  mocking  at- his  sermons.  To  impugn  his 
doctrine  was  death  or  banishment.  Hired  spies  watched 
people's  conduct,  and  every  unseemly  word  dropped  in 
the  street  came  to  the  ear  of  the  elders.  Children  were 
liable  to  public  punishment  for  insulting  their  parents, 
and  men  and  women  were  drowned  in  the  Rhone  for 
sensual  sins.  Witchcraft  and  heresy  were  capital 
crimes;  and  one  heretic,  Servetus,  was  burned,  with  his 
books  hung  to  his  girdle,  for  honest  difference  of  opinion 
from  Calvin  on  an  abstruse  point  of  divinity. 

The  same  view  of  the  functions  of  the  Church  which 
led  him  to  exercise  this  severe  discipline,  led  him  also  to 
control  education.     He  founded  academies    ,,   ^ 

.He  founds 

and  schools;  and  when  his  system  was  ap-    schools. 
plied  to  Scotland,  as  it  afterwards  was  under 
John  Knox,  a  school  as  well  as  a  church  was  planted  in 
every  parish. 


204  Results  of  the  P}-otestant  Revolution,  pt.  iii. 

(<:)    Influence  of  the  Gettevan  School  07i   Western 
Protestantism. 

Whatever  Calvin  did  at  Geneva  would  have  mattered 
little  to  the  world  if  it  had  stopped  there ;  but  it  did 
TT-   .  a  riot.     The  historical   importance  of  Calvin 

xlis  influence  '■ 

on  Western  lies  in  the  fact  that  he  impressed  upon  West- 

Protestantism.  . 

ern  Protestantism  his  rigid  scholastic  creed 
and  his  views  of  ecclesiastical  discipline. 

The   Protestants  of  France,  called    Huguenots,  were 

and  are  mainly  the  offspring  of  Calvinism, 

liiu^iTnJu,       Jo^^"  Knox,  the  reformer  of  Scotland,  and 

the  Scotch         (-j^^g  Scotch  Covenanters,  were  also  disciples 

Covenanters,  ^ 

the  English        of  Calvin ;  and  so  Scotch  Protestantism  re- 

Purituns,  ....  ^  . 

the  'Pilgrim  ceived  its  impress  irom  Geneva.  The  Puri- 
of^New^Eng-  tans  of  England  were  also  Calvinists.  Crom- 
land,  all  of  the    y;Q\\  -was  a  Calvinist,  and  the  rule  of  his 

Oenevan  • 

school.  '  saints '  was  on  the  Genevan  model.     The 

Pilgrim  Fathers  took  with  them  from  Eng- 
land to  the  New  England  across  the  Atlantic  the  Calvin- 
istic  creed,  and,  alas !  its  intolerance  too.  So  engrained 
was  it  in  their  theological  mind  that,  even  though  them- 
selves fleeing  from  persecution,  they  themselves  perse- 
cuted in  the  land  of  their  refuge.  Under  the  rule  of  the 
Boston  saints  there  was  as  little  religious  liberty  as  under 
the  rule  of  Calvin  at  Geneva. 

Nevertheless,  the  offspring  of  the  Genevan  school  of 
reform  deserve  well  of  history.  However  narrow  and 
^,   .  , .  hard  in  their  creed  and  Puritanic   in   their 

Their  his- 
torical im-  manners,  they  were  men  of  a  sturdy  Spartan 

andtn^^'  type,  ready  to  bear  any  amount  of  persecu- 

nationaf"  ^ion  and  to  push  through  any  difficulties, 

character.  democratic  in  their  spirit  and  aggressive  in 

their   zeal.  The   banishment   of  the    Huguenots    from 


CH.  V.       Reform  within  the  Catholic  Church.         205 

France  took  away  the  backbone  of  her  reUgious  hfe. 
Scotland  would  not  be  what  she  is  but  for  Knox  and  his 
parish  schools.  England  could  not  afford  to  lose  the 
Puritan  blood  which  mixes  in  her  veins.  New  England 
owes  a  rich  inheritance  of  stern  virtues  to  her  '  Pilgrim 
Fathers.' 


CHAPTER  V. 

REFORM    WITHIN   THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH. 

(a)    The  Ifalimt  Reformers  {to  1541). 
One  of  the  results  of  the  Protestant  revolution  was  the 
reform  of  the  Catholic  Church  itself. 

We  ought  never  to  forget  that  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  of  our  own  times  is,  in  fact,  a  reformed  Church 
as  well  as  the  Protestant  Churches.  And  we  must  now 
have  patience  enough  to  trace  how  and  by  whom  its  re- 
form was  effected. 

Good  men  of  all  parties  had  for  long  seen  the  neces- 
sity of  a  practical  reform  in  the  morals  of  the  pope,  clergy, 
and  monks.     And  we  have  seen  that  the  necessity  was 
recognized  in  high  quarters.     Ferdinand  and  Isabella's 
great  minister.  Cardinal  Ximenes,  and  the  English  min- 
isters. Cardinal  Morton  and  Cardinal  Wol-    Efforts  at 
sey — three  cardinals  all  of  great  power  and    ^^'°l'"  ^^^^' 
undoubted  loyalty  to  Rome — even  went  so    Church, 
far  as  to  get  bulls  from  the  Pope,  authorizing  them  to  visit 
and  reform  the  monasteries.     All  good  men  cried  out 
against  the  crimes  of  such  a  pope  as  Alexander  VI.    And 
it  is  not  right  to  charge  the  Catholic  Church  wholesale 
with  these  crimes  any  more  than  it  would  be  to  charge  the 
English  nation  with  the  matrimonial  sins  of  Henry  VIII. 

There  was  so  strong  a  feeling  all  through  the  Church 


2o6        Results  of  the  Pr-otestant  Revolution,     pt.  iii. 

against  these  scandals  that,  after  what  had  happened, 
Improve-  "^^1  werc  not  likely  to  occur  again.     The 

character^of  popes  who  Came  after  Alexander  VI.  were 
popes.  not  angels,  but  they  were  outwardly  more 

decent  than  he,  at  all  events.  Julius  II.,  as  we  have 
seen,  was  the  fighting  pope.  The  scandal  in  his  case 
was  his  lust  of  war  and  the  extension  of  the  Papal  terri- 
tory. Leo  X.  cared  more  for  art  and  literature  than  for 
war,  but  he,  too,  had  his  faults,  and  the  scandal  in  his 
case  was  a  doutjt  whether,  after  all,  he  really  believed  in 
Christianity.  Adrian  VI.  was  an  earnest  and  stern  mor- 
al reformer — too  stern  for  the  times — and  his  reign  was 
too  short  to  produce  much  result.  Clement  VII.  was  a 
better  man  than  many,  though  of  blundering  politics, 
letting  down  the  Papal  power,  and  becoming  at  last 
the  prisoner  and  the  tool  of  his  Spanish  conqueror 
Charles  V. 

All  this  while  there  were  men  in  Italy  of  earnest 
Christian  feeling  who,  like  the  Oxford  reformers,  were 
men  of  the  new  school  on  the  one  hand,  and  opposed  to 
the  semi-pagan  skepticism  of  the  mere  '  humanists  '  of 
Italy  on  the  other  hand.  These  men  longed  for  reform, 
not  only  in  morals  but  also  in  doctrine.  They  wanted 
^,        ,.  religion  to  be  made  a  thing  of  the  heart,  that 

The  media-  .  .  ° 

ting  reformers    the  gross  Superstition  connected  with  indul- 
^^'  gences  and  other  abuses  should  be  set  aside, 

and  some  of  them  held  the  Augustinian  doctrine  of  jus- 
tification by  faith.  This  gave  them  a  sort  of  sympathy 
even  with  Luther,  and  they  wanted  such  a  reform  of 
the  Church  as  they  hoped  would  win  back  the  Protes- 
Vaidez  Pole  tants  into  her  fold.  Juan  de  Valdez,  brother 
Contarini.  of    Charles    V.'s     secretary     (from    whose 

writings  we  have  more  than  once  quoted),  was  one 
of  them.     Reginald  Pole  (who  opposed   Henry  VIII. 's 


CH.  V.       Reform  within  the  Catholic  Church.  207 

revolt  from  Rome  so  strongly)  and  Caspar  Contari7ii  (a 
Venetian  nobleman  of  the  highest  character  and  influ- 
ence in  court  circles)  were  of  their  number.  They  had 
among  them  eloquent  preachers  and  ladies  of  rank,  for- 
tune, and  beauty.  They  held  together  and  exerted 
much  influence,  and  there  was  a  time  when  they  seemed 
to  be  not  without  chance  of  success  as  mediators  between 
the  extreme  Catholic  and  Protestant  parties. 

Paul  III.  became  pope  in  1534,  and  the  hopes  of  the 
reform  party  were  raised  by  his  making  Pole  and  Con- 
tarini  and  some  others  of  their  friends  cardi-    Paul  ill. 

1  rr"!  .1  .    r  •         11         makes  some 

nais.  1  hese  men  were  on  the  most  friendly  ^f  ^\^^^ 
terms  with  Erasmus,  who  in  his  old  age  was  cardinals, 
urging  concord  on  religious  parties  and  purity  on  the 
Church.  It  was  rumoured  that  Erasmus  himself  was  to 
be  made  a  cardinal,  and  it  was  said  that  a  red  hat  was 
on  the  way  to  Bishop  Fisher  when  he  was  executed  by 
Henry  VIII. 

It  was  some  of  these  and  other  signs  of  the  times 
which  cheered  Sir  Thomas  More  in  his  prison  with  the 
beUef  that  better  days  were  coming,  that  there  was  at 
least  some  chance  of  a  reconciliation  with  the  Protestants, 
and  a  healing  of  the  schism  by  which  the  Church  was 
rent.  The  prospect  was  for  the  moment  promising. 
Paul  III.  wrote  to  Erasmus,  telling  him  that  he  intended 
to  call  a  council  (as  Erasmus  had  urged  his    „,  , 

^  °  _  Chances  of  a 

predecessors  to  do)  and  asking  for  his  in-    recondiia- 

,11111/-  1-1  'i""  W''^ 

fluence    and    help  both   before  and  m  the    Protestams 
council.    But  things  moved  slowly.  Cardinal   'j'Pj^"  P^"' 
Contarini  was  more   zealous  for  a  council 
than  the  Pope,  who  was  only  half-inclined  to  it,  fearing 
lest  it  might  abridge  his  power.     At  length  in  1541 — five 
years  after  the  death  of  Erasmus — the  Pope  deputed 


2o8         Results  of  the  Protestant  Revolution,     pt.  iii. 
„        .  .  Contarini  to  meet  the  Protestants  at  the  Diet 

Contarmi 

and  Melanch-  of  Ratisbon,  and  to  try  whether  a  reconciha- 
make  peace  tion  could  be  arranged  with  them.  He  was 
of  RatEbon.  "^^'^  ^X  ^^^  gentle  Melanchthon  (Luther  dis- 
trusting the  whole  thing  and  keeping  away), 
and  they  agreed  upon  the  doctrine  of  justification  by 
faith  as  the  basis  of  reunion.  For  a  moment  a  peace 
seemed  within  reach.  But  alas  !  other  motives  came  in 
But  the  Pope  o^i  the  Pope's  side.  Francis  I.  urged  upon 
draws  back.  j^jj^  ^^^  concord  and  unity  in  Germany 
would  make  the  Emperor — their  common  enemy — dan- 
gerously strong  ;  and  so  Paul  III.  drew  back. 

On  the  other  side,  Luther  scented  mischief  in  any 
And  Luther  peace  with  Rome.  It  was  too  good  to  be 
^^°'  true  ;  and  he  even  hinted  that  the  devil  was 

somewhere  and  somehow  at  work  in  it. 
_        , .  So  everything  was  left  over  for  settlement 

Everything  ^  ° 

left  over  till        at  the  council  which  now  at  length  the  Pope 
of  Trent.  was  to  convene — the  famous  Council  of  Trent. 

But  meanwhile  another  power  came  upon  the  stage, 
which  was  destined  to  take  the  reins  out  of  the  hands 
of  the  Italian  mediating  reformers,  to  close  the  door  for 
reconciliation  forever,  and  to  reform  what  was  left  of  the 
Catholic  Church  on  the  narrow  basis  of  reaction. 

{b)    The  Neiu  Order  of  the  Society  of  Jesus  ( 1 540). 

Ignatius  Loyola,  a  young  Spanish  knight  of  noble  fa- 
mily, was  born  in  149I,  and  so  was  eight  years  younger 
than  Luther.     He  was  a  soldier  in  the  army 

Ignatius  Ley-  ,  .    ,       , 

oia,  a  Spanish    of  Spain — that  land  in  which  the  national 

°'^  '■  wars  against  the  Moors  had  kept  up  chivalry 

and  the  spirit  of  the  old  crusaders,  in  which  knights  still 

fought  for  the  Cross  against  the  '  Infidel,'  and  whose  citi- 


CH.  V.       Reform  within  the  Catholic  Chtrch.  209 

zens  more  than  any  others  felt  the  romance  of  the  con- 
nexion with  the  New  World. 

Loyola  was  thirty  years  old,  fighting  in  the  Spanish 
army  against  an  insurrection  in  Navarre,  secretly  aided 
bv  the  French,  just  after  the  Diet  of  Worms,    ,^   . 

-^  •'  Heiswoundea 

when  his  leg  was  shattered  by  a  cannon  in  1521. 
ball.  The  one  hope  of  the  young  knight 
was  such  a  recovery  as  would  let  him  return  to  his  sol- 
dier's life  and  pursue  his  knightly  career.  He  submitted 
to  two  cruel  operations  in  this  hope,  but  alas,  in  vain. 
After  racking  torture  and  fever,  which  brought  him  near 
to  the  grave,  he  survived  to  find  his  contracted  limb  still 
a  bar  to  his  hopes.  As  he  lay  upon  his  couch  in  pain 
and  fever,  he  changed  the  scheme  of  his    „     , 

'  °  .  Kesolves  tobe- 

life.     He  resolved  to  become  a  soldier — a   come  a  general 

,       .  .  J  ,  .    ,  of  an  army  of 

general — m  another  army,  under  a  higher  saints  instead 
king,  fighting  for  the  cross.  Legends  of  the  °^  '°'<^'"^- 
saints  inspired  his  imagination  with  dreams  still  more 
romantic  than  the  tales  of  knight-errantry.  In  his  deli- 
rium his  fevered  eye  saw  visions  of  the  Virgin,  and  thus 
he  thought  he  received  divine  commission  to  pursue  his 
plan.  He  would  be  a  true  son  of  the  Church,  the  sworn 
enemy  of  her  enemies,  be  they  heretics,  Jews,  or  infidels. 
His  creed  should  be  the  soldier's  creed — obedience  to 
superiors,  hard  endurance,  and  dauntless  courage.  The 
holy  saints  of  the  legends  were  his  patterns.  He  prepared 
himself  for  his  work,  as  they  did,  by  fastings  and  the  se- 
verest austerities.  His  food  was  bread  and  water  and 
herbs,  his  girdle  sometimes  an  iron  chain,    ,,. 

,  His 

sometimes  prickly  briars,  his  work  humble   austerities. 
service  of  the  lowest  kind,  such  as  dressing 
the  foulest  wounds  in  the  hospitals.     Then  he  dwelt  for 
a  while  in  a  cavern  in  solitude,  and  fasted  till  he  saw  vi- 
sions again,  and  fancied  he  had  communications  with 
P 


2IO         Results  of  the  Protestant  Revolution,     pt.  in. 

heaven.     And  now  he  had  perfected  his  plan — a  soldier's 
plan — to  found  a  religious  army,  perfect  in  discipline,  in 

every  soldier  of  v^hich  should  be  absolute 
found  ihe  devotion  to  one  end,  absolute  obedience  to 

lesus""*^  his  superior,  with  no  human  ties  to  hinder 

and  no  objects  to  divert  him  from  the  service 
required.  It  was  in  fact  to  be  a  new  monastic  order,  and 
to  be  called  the  Society  of  Jesus. 

He  must  first  prepare  himself  for  his  generalship  by 

years  of  study.     He  began   at  a  common 

To  prepare  i        i  i      i  ,        t  t    •  •  / 

himself  studies   school,  and  then  went  to  the  University  of 

at  the  Univer-      p 
sity  of  Paris.        -c  ariS. 

The  next  thing  was  to  get  round  him  a  few 
others  like  himself,  and  so  to  form  the  nucleus  of  his 
army.  They  must  be  men  of  power  and  metal,  and  all 
the  better  if  of  noble  blood  and  high  position. 

There  was  a  young  Spanish  noble  at  the  university  of 
Paris  named  Francis  Xavier.     While  Loyola 

At  Paris  meets  ,    .  ,  ... 

Francis  was  Studying  at  the  university  he  came  in 

Xavier.  contact  with  him.     He  watched  him,  read 

his  mind  and  character,  and  then  set  himself  to  work  to 
make  his  own.  Xavier  sought  fame  and  applause,  and 
just  as  he  got  it,  Loyola  would  come  in  his  way  with 
the  solemn  question,  'What  shall  it  profit  if  a  man 
gain  the  whole  world  and  lose  his  own  soul  ?'  Loyola 
would  help  him  to  new  triumphs,  but  as  often  as  they 
came  would  come  to  him  again  from  Loyola  the  solemn 
question,  'What  shall  it  profit?'  At  last  the  proud  spirit 
of  the  Spanish  rioble  yielded  to  the  spell.  Xavier  be- 
came a  disciple  of  Loyola;  rivalled  him  in 

Xavier  be-  .  .  . 

comes  a  austenties,  and  ere   long  became  the  mis^ 

'^"^'^  '^'  sionary  of  the  Society,  carrying  his  cross,  his 

Bible,  breviary  and  wallet  to  India  and  the  Indian  Isles, 

and  even  to  Japan  and  China,  till   at  last  he  laid  down 


CH.  V.       Reform  within  the  Catholic  Church.  211 

his  life  after  eleven  long  years  of  heroic  la-    Andthegrcnt 
hour,  stretched  on  the  sand  of  the  sea-shore   J"""  mission- 

'  _  ary  to  the  lii- 

of  a  lonely  island  in  the  Chinese  seas,  with    dies,  China, 
his  cross  in  his  hand,  tears  of  holy  joy  in 
his  eyes,  and  uttering  the  words,  '  In  Thee  have  I  put 
my  trust,  let  me  never  be  confounded.' 

Of  such  stuff  were  the  first  Jesuits  made — a  type  of 
human  nature  which,  rising  up  as  it  did  just  then,  was 
of  immense  import  to  the  future  of  the  Catholic  Church. 
It  was  in  truth  a  reaction  from  the  looseness  both  of 
morals  and  creed  which  had  marked  the  recent  condi- 
tion of  the  Church.    These  men  were  pious,    „, 

^  Character  of 

earnest,  and  devoted  to  the  Church,  be-  the  Jesuits, 
cause  their  minds  were  cast  in  a  mould 
which  allowed  them  still  to  believe  in  her  pretensions. 
They  had  all  the  piety,  fervour,  energy,  and  boldness  of 
the  Protestant  Reformers,  but  their  reform  took  another 
direction.  Instead  of  going  back  to  St.  Augustine  as 
their  e.xponent  of  the  Bible,  they  took  St.  Francis  and 
the  mediaeval  saints  as  their  models,  and  rested  with  ab- 
solute faith  on  the  authority  of  the  medieval  Church. 
To  reform  *the  Catholic  Church  to  mediaeval  standards 
by  the  formation  of  a  new  monastic  order,  having  for  its 
corner-stone  the  absolute  surrender  of  free  inquiry  and 
free  thought,  and  absolute  obedience  to  supreme  eccle- 
siastical authority — this  was  the  project  of  ^,   . 

'■       ■^  _         Uheir  suc- 

Loyola.  It  was  not  abortive.  Before  its  cess  and 
founder  died  he  had  succeeded  in  founding 
more  than  a  hundred  Jesuit  colleges  or  houses  for  train- 
ing Jesuits,  and  an  immense  number  of  educational  es- 
tablishments under  their  influence.  He  had  many  thou- 
sands of  Jesuits  in  the  rank  and  file  of  his  order.  He 
had  divided  Europe,  India,  Africa,  and  Brazil  into  twelve 
Jesuit  provinces,  in  each  of  which  he  had  his  Jesuit  offi- 


212         Resiclts  of  the  Protestant  Revolution,     pt.  in. 

cer,  whilst  he,  their  general,  residing  at  Rome,  wielded 
an  influence  over  the  world  rivaling,  if  it  did  not  exceed 
in  power,  that  of  popes  and  kings.  Its  very  success  was 
the  cause  of  its  ultimate  doom.  The  nations  of  Europe, 
^  , .        after  the  experience  of  some  generations. 

Causes  of  its  .  ^  . 

ultimate  found  it  to  interfere  with  their  national  free- 

dom, as  they  had  done  the  old  ecclesiastical 
empire  of  Rome.  They  ultimately  banished  the  Jesuits 
because  of  their  power  and  because  their  presence  and 
their  plots  endangered  the  safety  of  the  state.  But  as 
yet  the  Society  of  Jesus  was  young,  and  had  its  work 
before  it.     The  Order  received  Papal  sanction  in  1 540. 

{c)   The  Council  of  Tre?it  {134s — 1555)' 
The  Council  of  Trent  was  opened  in  1545.     Cardinal 
Contarini,  who  had  been  the  Pope's  confidant  in  matters 
^       .,   ,         relating  to  the  Council,  died  before  it  assem- 

Councu  of  ,  ,     ,  T       1 

Trent  meets  bled.  But  Cardmal  Pole,  Contarini  the 
'"  ^545-  younger,  and  others  of  the  mediating  party, 

were  members  of  the  Council.  They  took  the  same  line 
as  at  Ratisbon,  and  urged  the  doctrine  of  justification  by 
faith  as  common  Christian  ground.  But  tlfe  Jesuits  in 
„,    ^     .  the  Council,  under  the  instruction  of  Loyola, 

1  he  Jesuits  .  .  "^ 

prevail  over  opposed  it  with  all  their  might.  The  dispute 
ing  Refor-'  was  long  and  hot,  and  even  led  to  personal 
'"^'^"  violence.     One  holy  Father  was  so  angry 

that  he  seized  another  by  the  beard.  The  Jesuits  pre- 
vailed, and  carried  the  decision  of  the  Council  their  own 
way.  Pole,  on  the  plea  of  ill  health,  had  left  the  Council, 
and  the  younger  Contarini  followed  his  example.  It  was 
clear  there  was  to  be  no  reconciliation.  The  party  of 
reaction  had  gained  the  day. 

No  sooner  had  the  party  of  reaction  taken  the  lead 
than  Cardinal  Caraffa  (afterwards  Pope  Paul  IV).  ob- 


CH.  V.       Reform  within  the  Catholic  Chirch.  213 

tained  powers  to  introduce  into  Rome  the    , 

'^  Inquisition 

Inquisition — that  terrible  tribunal  of  perse-    introduced 
cution  which  in  Spain  had  slain  and  ban-    CardinaT'ca-^ 
ished  so  many  Moors,  Jews,    and  heretics    "^ds^pop'e 
under  the  sanction  of  the  zeal  of  Queen  Isa-    Pa"'  IV. 
bella.     Persecution  began,  and  some  of  the  members  of 
the  mediating  party  were  among  its  first  victims. 

This  was  the  work  of  the  Council  of  Trent  at  its  early 
sessions.     Then  owing  to  a  disagreement  between  the 
Pope  and  Charles  V.,  it  was  adjourned  for   Council  ad- 
some  years.     Paul  III.  died,  and  two  sue-  ^i°5"5"under 
ceeding  popes,  before  it  really  got  to  work    ^^"^  ^^• 
again  to  any  purpose  under  Paul  IV.     This  was  in  1555, 
the  year    in    which,  after  the   long    struggle    between 
Charles  V.  and  Germany,  the  peace  of  Augsburg  was 
come  to,  by  which  the  revolt  of  the  Protestant  princes 
from  Rome  was  first  legally  recognized  as  a  thing  which 
must  be. 

The  Council  of  Trent  had  now  in  its  later  sessions  to 
reorganize  what  was  left  of  the  Catholic  Church.  It 
could  not,  and  did  not  try  to  undo  the  re-    ^,    ^ 

"^  1  he  Roman 

volts.     The  Jesuits  were  the  ruling  power.  Catholic 

Reaction  was  the  order  of  the  day.     Cleri-  formed  in 

cal  abuses  were  corrected,  and  some  sort  of  much  more 

decency  enforced.     Provisions  were  made  r'g'd  than 

.  ever  in  creed. 

for  the  education  of  priests  and  for  their  de- 
votion in  future  to  active  duties.  But  in  points  of  doc- 
trine there  was  reaction  instead  of  concession.  The  di- 
vine autkority  of  ihe  Pape  was  confirmed.  The  creed 
of  the  Church  was  laid  down  once  for  all  in  rigid  state- 
ments, which  henceforth  must  be  swallowed  by  the  faith- 
ful. Finally,  the  Inciuisition,  imported  from  Spain,  was 
extended  to  other  countries,  and  charged  with  the  sup- 
pression of  heretical  doctrines.     In  a  word,  the   rule  of 


214         Results  of  the  Protestant  Revolution,     pt.  hi. 

the  ecclesiastical  empire  was  strengthened,  and  the 
bonds  of  the  scholastic  system  tightened ;  but  not  for 
Christendom — only  for  those  nations  who  still  acknow- 
ledged the  ecclesiastical  supremacy  of  Rome. 

The  Church  was  thus  both  reformed  and  narrowed  by 
the  decrees  of  the  Council  of  Trent.  Henceforth  it  tole- 
rated within  its  fold  neither  the  old  diversity  of  doctrine 
on  the  one  hand,  nor  the  old  laxity  of  morals  on  the 
other  hand,  and  henceforth  it  was  by  no  means  coexten- 
sive with  Western  Christendom,  as  it  once  had  been. 
It  is  now  generally  called  the  'Roman  Catholic  Church,' 
to  distinguish  it  from  the  '  Catholic  Church  '  of  the  Mid- 
dle Ages,  from  which  it  and  so  many  other  churches 
have  sprung. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE   FUTURE  OF  SPAIN  AND  FRANCE, 
(a)    The  Future  of  Spain. 
Charles  V.  had  inherited  the  absolute  monarchy  pre- 
pared for  him  by  Ferdinand  and  Isabella. 

The  strengthening  of  the  central  power  was  needful  to 
create  a  modern  nation.  But  the  history  of  England 
has  taught  us  that  the  central  power  may  be  strong  with- 
out being  an  absolute  monarchy. 

The  vice  in  the  Spanish  system  was  the 

Growth  of  ,  .  ,  -^        ,  ,  . 

absolute  mon-  attempt  to  Seek  national  power  by  subject- 
arc  yin  pain,  j^^^  ^  classes  within  the  nation  to  the  ab- 
solute will  of  the  monarch. 

This  vice  was  the  worm  at  the  root  of  the  greatness  of 
Spain,  and  silently  wrought  the  ruin  in  which  she  finds 
herself  to-day. 

Philip  II.,  the  son  and  successor  of  Charles, 

Philip  II.  Ti        1   •  J  1        1  1   • 

was,  like  his  predecessor,  an  absolute  king. 


CH.  VI.  The  future  of  Spaiji.  215 

It  was  during  the  period   of  Spanish  supremacy  in 
Europe  that  the  Council  of  Trent  decreed    j„  ^jg^g 
the  absolute  ecclesiastical  supremacy  of  the   league  with 

^       .         ^  the  Papacy. 

Pope.     It  was  the  Spanish  Jesuits  who  had 
brought  this  about.     It  was  by  adopting  the  Spanish  In- 
quisition that  the  ecclesiastical  triumph  was  to  be  enforced 
upon  the  people.    And  now  Philip  II. 's  aim,    ^    , 

^  •■        I-  i  Seeks  to 

as  we  have  seen,  was  to  establish  both  the    establish 
absolute  power  of  the  Spanish  throne  and    pa'pai  supre- 
the  papal  supremacy,  wherever  his  rule  ex-   ^ether'°' 
tended,  by  the  sword  and  the  Inquisition. 

England  felt  this  influence  in  the  days  of  Queen  Mary, 
but  happily  Philip  II. 's  Spanish  Armada  failed  to  con- 
quer England  under  Elizabeth.     He  tried    ^     , 

^  °  Fatal  results 

his  fatal  policy  in  the  Netherlands,  and,  as  of  his  policy. 
we  have  seen,  they  revolted,  made  good  their  revolt 
from  both  Spain  and  Rome,  and  became  a  free  Protest- 
ant nation.  He  tried  the  same  fatal  policy  in  Spain,  and 
with  what  result  ?  The  Spaniard  of  to-day  points  to  the 
civil  and  ecclesiastical  despotism  of  the  reign  of  Philip  II. 
(from  which,  unhappily,  Spain  could  not  shake  herself 
free,  as  the  Netherlands  did)  as  the  point  in  her  history 
when  her  national  life  was  strangled,  her  literature  began 
to  lose  its  power,  her  commerce  to  languish.  To  fatten 
an  absolute  monarchy,  and  armies  of  officials,  soldiers, 
and  priests,  in  course  of  generations  the  nation  was 
ruined.  Spain  for  a  while  was  big  on  the  map.  For  a 
while  she  maintained  her  supremacy  in  Europe,  but  her 
greatness  was  not  the  result  of  her  advance  on  the  path 
of  modern  civilization.  It  was  not  the  result  of  true 
national  life — the  welding  together  of  all  classes  into  a 
compact  nation.  It  rather  belonged  to  the  old  order  of 
things,  and  so  was  doomed  to  decay. 


2i6         Results  of  the  Protestant  Revolution,     pt.  ill. 

[b]    The  future  of  France. 
Absolute  monarchy  answered  no  better  for  France 
than  for  Spain. 

France  was  a  prey  during  the  era  to  the  evils  caused 
by  the  constant  ware  of  Francis  I.  While  the  two  abso- 
lute monarchs  strove  for  supremacy  in  Italy, 
sacrificed  to  their  subjects  alike  Suffered.  The  reckless- 
fmbitlonof  ness  of  the  ambition  of  Francis  I.  showed 
the  absolute       itself  in  the  way  in  which,  while  persecuting 

monarchy  ^  . 

under  heresy  in  France,  he  was  ready  to  ally  him- 

self with  the  Protestants  of  Germany,  or  even 
the  Turks,  if  need  be,  to  gain  his  military  ends.  He 
bequeathed  his  ambition  for  military  glory  and  supre- 
macy to  his  successors. 

France,  though  a  Catholic  power,  fought  on  the  Pro- 
testant side  in  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  and  one  result  of 
it  was  that  the  supremacy  of  Spain  ended  and  that  of 
France  began.  But  French,  no  less  than  Spanish  su- 
premacy, was  the  growth  of  absolute  monarchy,  contrary 
to  the  true  interests  of  the  French  nation.  It  was  gradu- 
ally ripening  the  seeds  which  were  already  sown,  and 
which  bore  fruit  in  the  great  Revolution  of  1789,  and  in 
the  alternate  republics  and  despotisms  under 

1  he  curse  ,  .    ,      _ 

which  her  which  France  has  smce  suffered  so  much. 

monarchy  The  want  of  common  feeling  and  interest 

France  between  the  citizens  of  the  towns  and  pea- 

sants of  the  rural  districts  which  began  so 
early  in  French  history  still  continues  to  perplex  her  ru- 
lers, and  so  does  the  lust  for  military  glory  and  supre- 
macy in  Europe  which  also  is  an  old  inheritance  of  the 
French  people. 

The  way  in  which  the  Protestant  revolution  was  met 
in  France  also  left  scars  upon  the  nation  which  may  be 
traced  to-day.     Under  Francis  I.,  Calvinism  spread  in 


CH.  VI.  The  future  of  France.  217 

France  among  the   nobility,   whose   order    had    been 
humbled  to  make  way  for  the  absolute  mon-    Struggle 
archy.     This  gave  rise  in  the  next  era  to  re-    Huguenots 
ligious  wars,  in  which  some  of  the  Protes-   '"  France. 
tant   nobility  headed   a  rebellion   against  the   Catholic 
throne.       These  civil  wars  lasted  forty  years,  and  cost 
the  lives,  it  is  said,  of  more  than  a  million  Frenchmen. 

In  France  the  persecution  of  heresy  was  political  as 
well  as  religious.  Political  ambition  and  intrigue,  as 
well  as  religious  bigotry,  prompted  it,  and  stained  the 
pages  of  French  history  with  crimes  unique  in  their 
blackness. 

The  massacre  of   St.    Bartholomew  in  1572  was  the 
diabolical  work  of  the  queen,  Catherine  de'    Massacre  of 
Medici,   to   maintain   her   political    power.    iomew7n°' 
She  had    coquetted    with    the   Huguenots    ^572- 
when  it  served  her  purpose.     She  tried  to  exterminate 
them  by  the  massacre  of  20,000 — some  say  100,000 — in 
one  fatal  night.     The  Edict  of  Nantes  in    „  , 

°  Toleration 

1598  ended  the  civil  wars  and    granted    a   for  a  time 

.  .  ,  .  .  under  the 

respite  from  persecution,  but  its  revocation  Edict  of 
in  1685  resulted  in  the  banishment  of  the  Mantes. 
Huguenots   from   France.     Some   of  them    Its  revoca- 

°  tion  in  1685, 

came  to  Protestant  England,  and  brought   and  the  ba- 

•  1      1  ■,     •       ^^,^  1     1      •     1  T-1-  nishment  of 

With  them  their  silk  and  their  looms.      1  hus    the  Hu- 
France  by  her  intolerance  lost  one  arm  of    ^^^^Tto  ^^"^ 
her  national  industry  and  an  important  cle-    England. 
ment  from  her  national  character.     The  want  of  cohe- 
sion and  unity  of    interest    between  various  classes  in 
France  was  increased  by  the  banishment  of  the  Hugue- 
nots.    There  is  even  now  a  middle  term  wanting — a 
missing  link — between  her  religious  and  her  republican 
elements.      The    Puritans — the   religious  republicans- 
were  that  middle  term  in  England. 


2i8         Results  of  the  Protestant  Revolution,     pt.  ill. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

GENERAL  RESULTS  OF  THE  ERA  OF  THE  PROTESTANT 
REVOLUTION. 

(a)    071  the  Growth  of  Natio7ial  Life. 
We  have  now  traced  the  course  of  the  Protestant  revo- 
,  „  ,       lution,  and  marked  both  its  direct  results 

Innuence  of 

the  Protest-        upon   those   nations   which   revolted    from 

ant  revolu-  _  ,,..,.  , 

tion  on  na-  Komc,  and  also  its  indirect  results  upon 
tiona   1  e.  Rome  herself  and  those  nations  which  re- 

mained in  allegiance  to  her  ecclesiastical  empire. 

The  revolution  was  obviously  only  partially  success- 
Where  it  sue-  ^'^-  Where  it  succeeded  it  produced  re- 
ceeded.  form — the   Protestant   nations   had    gained 

one  substantial  step  towards  independent  national  life 
and  towards  the  blending  of  all  classes  within  them 
into  one  community. 

Where  it  failed,  it  produced,  as  every  unsuccessful 
Where  it  revolution  does,  reaction.    The  Catholic  na- 

f^i'sd.  tions  seemed  to  gain  in  the  outward  signs 

of  strength  by  the  alliance  which  resulted  between  the 
civil  and  ecclesiastical  powers  within  them.  But  it  was 
an  alliance  intended  to  strengthen  the  absolute  power 
of  the  Crown  and  of  the  ecclesiastical  empire,  and  there- 
by all  the  more  to  enthrall  the  people.  Henceforth, 
both  in  France  and  in  Spain,  the  nation  was  more  than 
ever  enthralled  under  the  double  despotism  of  Crown 
and  Church.  The  Inquisition  may  be  taken  as  the  sym- 
bol of  the  one  kind  of  despotism,  and  the  French  Bas- 
tille of  the  other.  The  two  despotisms  acting  together 
tended,  as  we  have  seen,  to  destroy  national  life,  to  in- 
crease the  separation  of  classes  and  prevent  their  being 
welded  together  by  common  interests  into  one  commu- 


CH.  VII.  Results  of  the  Era.  219 

nity.  It  postponed  their  progress  on  the  path  of  modern 
civilization  and  ended  in  a  series  of  alternate  revolu- 
tions and  reactions,  out  of  which  it  is  hard  to  see  a  final 
escape.  So  hard  is  it  for  nations  to  cast  off  the  fruit, 
however  bitter,  of  seeds  sown  even  centuries  ago  ! 

Where  it  partially  failed  and  partially  succeeded,  as  in 
Switzerland  and  Germany,  we  have  seen  that  it  resulted 
in  civil  wars  and  in  the  postponement  of  the-    where  it 
growth  of  their  national  life  almost  to  our     P'"^!;''^'  ^^^}^^ 

^  and  partly 

own  times.     In  Switzerland  the  people  were     succeeded. 
already  free,  but  in  Germany,  where  serfdom  still  pre- 
vailed, the  emancipation  of  the  peasantiy  was  postponed 
till  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

{d)   On  the  Relatiojis  of  Nations  to  each  other. 
The  Protestant  struggle  apparently  did  little  or  nothing 
to  secure  progress  in  civilization  in  the  dealings  between 
nations.  The  events  of  the  era  show  that  the     small  im- 
notion    of    universal     empire    which    had     provcment  m 

^  the  dealings 

marked  the  old  order  of  things  was  not  yet     between  na- 

/■   11         •  -T^i  •  r  •  r      tioris. 

fully  given  up.     The  aim  after  extension  of 
empire    which    went    along    with   it  we   have   noticed 
throughout.      The   struggle   between   the   two   absolute 
monarchies  of  Spain  and  France  for  supremacy  in  Chris- 
tendom, the  efforts  of  the  princes  of  the  House  of  Haps- 
burg  to  unite  as  many  countries  as  they  could  under 
their  rule,  the  designs  that  both  France  and  Spain  had 
upon  Italy,  the  revived  claims  of  Henry  VIII.  to  the  0I4 
English  possessions  in  France — in  all  this  there  was  little 
sign  of  progress  from  the  old  to  the  ne^v  order  of  things. 
Although  the  Oxford  reformers  were  faithful  in  enjoining 
upon  princes  an  international  policy  based    The  Oxford 
upon  the  golden  rule,  and  having  for  its  ob-    JTot'^iiTtencd 
ject  not  the  aggrandizement  of  the  prince    '°  '"  '*'"'■ 


220         Results  of  fhc  Protestant  Revobition.     pt.  hi, 

but  the  weal  of  the  nation,  the  popes  and  princes  still 
preferred  to  follow  the  maxims  of  "the  Prince"  of 
Machiavelli,  rather  than  those  of  the  "  Christian  Prince" 
of  Erasmus.  They  still,  as  Erasmus  said,  treated  the 
people  too  much  as  "  cattle  in  the  market." 

Nor  was  the  immediate  result  of  the  Protestant  revo- 
lution any  cessation  from  international  strife.  For  the 
next  hundred  years  there  was  almost  incessant  strife 
between  Catholic  and  Protestant  powers. 

Though,  however,  Henry  Vlll.  himself  hankered 
But  Henrv  again  and  again  after  the  realization  of  the 
W'  ^^  empty  title  of  King  of  France ;  yet  practically 
English  king  we  may  say  that  Henry  VIII. 's  dreams  were 
recovering  the  last  in  which  English  monarchs  have 
France.  indulged  on  that  subject. 

And  though  the  attempts  to  urge  sounder  views  on 
international  matters  did  not  succeed  in  this  era,  yet  they 
And  Hup-o  were  not  made  wholly  in  vain.  Before  the 
Ciatiusv/as      century  was  out  was  born  Hus[o  Grotius,  the 

born  beiore  ■"  . 

the  century  father  of  the  present  system  of  international 
law,  who  was  well  acquainted  with  the  works 
of  Erasmus,  and  like  him  rejected  Machiavellian  prin- 
ciples and  sought  to  base  the  law  of  nations  upon  the 
golden  rule. 

{c)  Influence  on  the  Grozvth  of  National  Languages  a7id 

Literature. 
"    In  no  point  was  the  effect  of  the  Protestant^  struggle 
more  clearly  marked  than  in  the  stride  it  gave,  as  it  were 
all  at  once,  to  the  growth  of  national  languages  and 
literature. 

In  Germany  we  noticed  how  Luther  and  Hutten  ap- 
pealed to  the  people  as  well  as  to  the  learned ;  how,  first 
writing  in  Latin  for  scholars,  they  soon  found  it  needful 


CH.  VII.  Results  of  the  Eia.  221 

to  write  in  German  for  the  people ;  how  Luther  intro- 
duced wood-cuts  to  make  his  appeals  to  the  populareaji. 
still   more   vivid   and  telling.  ^^All   this   promoted  the 
-g£owth  of  a  national  popular  literature.    "This  turning 
from  LatHr^EcrGerman  was  in  fact  throwing   Luther's 
off  in  one  point  the  yoke  of  the  scholastic   ^'mnf  fit 
system,  and  was  in  itself  a  great  step  in  ad-   the  character 

r  ,  ■  ,  ,  ^,  oftheGer- 

vance  for  the  nation  to  have  taken.  The  man  Ian- 
crowning  gift  of  Luther  to  the  German  peo-  ^"^^^^ 
pie  was  in  fact  his  German  Bible  and  his  German  hymns. 
The  earnest  vigorous  German  in  which  they  are  written 
fixed  the  future  style  of  the  language.  The  German 
spoken  to-day  is  the  German  of  Luther's  Bible  and 
hymns.  They  have  been  better  known  by  the  German 
people  than  any  other  literature,  and  so  have  done  more 
than  perhaps  anything  else  to  form  the  German  lan- 
guage, and  with  it  in  no  small  degree  the  national 
character. 

It  was  so  in  some  measure  in  France.     Calvin  did  not 
gain  so  great  a  hold  on  the  French  nation 
as  Luther  did  on  the  German,  but  still  his    l"fl"?",ce  °f 

'  Calvin  s 

French  Writings  did  very  much  the   same    writings  on  the 

1   •  r         -I        T-  1     ,  1  T        1        .        French  lan- 

thing  for  the  r  rench  language  that  Luther  s    guage. 
Bible  did  for  the  German. 

In  England,  too,  the  same  thing  is  to  be  marked.  The 
fact  that  the  religious  controversies  of  the  times  were 
carried  on  by  books  and  pamphlets,  not  in 

T        .        ,  .         -^        ,.    ,  .  ,  Influence  of 

Latin  but  in  English,  gave  a  stmiulus  to  TinUai's  New 
English  literature,  and  prepared  the  way  for  ,^h"EngM"h"" 
the   succeeding  generations  which  were  to   y^f^'""  "\  'h*= 

°  Bible,  and  so 

give  England  her  Shakespeare  and  her  Mil-    upon  the  Eng- 

■KT  •     t        r  ■\  1  11        hsh  language. 

ton.     Nor  can  it  be  forgotten  that  the  noble 

English  version  of  the  Bible  has  done  as  much  as  other 

versions  in  other  countries  to  fix  the  character  of  mo- 


222         Results  of  the  Prott'xiant  Revolution,     pt.  iii. 

dern  English.  The  simpUcity,  terseness,  and  power  of 
the  Enghsh  version,  to  which  the  taste  of  England,  after 
frequent  wanderings,  again  and  again  returns  as  to  its 
best  classical  model,  we  owe,  and  this  should  not  be 
forgotten,  to  the  poor,  persecuted,  but  noble-minded 
English  reformer,  William  Tindal,  who,  in  his  English 
New  Testament,  set  a  type  which  others  in  completing 
the  translation  of  the  whole  Bible  loyally  followed. 

(</)  Effect  in  Stimulating  Natioiial  Education. 

The  same  movement  which  promoted  so  much  the 
growth  of  national  language  and  literature,  also  did  much 
to  throw  open  the  gates  of  knowledge  to  the  people  by 
fostering  education  and  schools. 

Savonarola  founded  schools  in  Florence.  Colet  set  a 
noble  example  in  England,  and  the  next  generation  fol- 
lowed it  by  establishing  the  grammar-schools 
fd^by  sivont  which  SO  often  bear  the  name  of  King  Ed- 
rola, Colet.  and   ^^rd  VI.     Luther  and  the  Protestant  Ger- 

others,  Luther, 

Calvin,  Knox,  man  States  established  common  schools. 
FaWrs,"and  Calvin  did  the  same  thing  in  Geneva,  and 
Jesuits.  Calvin's  disciple,  John  Knox,  in  Scodand. 

Finally,  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  carried  the  same 
zeal  for  education  to  their  colonies  in  New  England. 
Even  the  Jesuits  made  a  great  point  of  education,  and 
became  noted  wherever  they  went  for  their  educational 
establishments.  So  that  both  in  Catholic  and  Protestant 
countries  a  great  stimulus  was  given  to  popular  education 
during  the  era,  while  the  fact  that  at  least  some  of  the 
property  of  the  dissolved  monasteries  was  diverted  to 
educational  purposes  in  connexion  with  the  Universities 
and  otherwise,  gave  a  somewhat  similar  stimulus  also  to 
higher  education. 


CH.  VII.  Resit  If s  of  the  Era.  223 

{e)    Influence  07i  Domestic  Life. 

There  are  few  things,  if  any,  more  important  to  the 
steady  growth  of  a  free  nation  than  the  maintenance  of 
domestic  virtues  and  the  sanctities  of  family  hfe. 

The  domestic  instincts,  more  than  any  others,  were  the 
first  germs  of  national  life.     In  Teutonic   nations  espe- 
cially the  powerful  ties  of  family  life,  widen-    political  im- 
ing  in  their  sphere  extended  from  the  family   5°J^g"f""' 
to  the  tribe,  from  the  tribe  to  the  nation,  in-   life, 
troducing  law  and  order  and  peaceful  relations  within 
the  sphere  embraced  by  them. 

Now  the  domestic  virtues  of  nations  had    _ 

Danger  to  it 

been   in    great   danger  of    decay,  and   no   from  the  ex- 
doubt  had  suffered  enormously  through  the    country  of 
influence  of  so  large  a  body  of  clergy,  monks,    ^^^  closes. 
and  nuns  in  a  forced  state  of  celibacy. 

This  system  sapped  the  foundations  of  domestic  life 
by  holding  up  the  married  state  as  lower  in  virtue  than 
that  of  celibacy,  by  cutting  off  so  large  a  number  of 
people  from  the  natural  influences  of  home-life,  and  still 
further  by  promoting  in  a  terrible  degree  immorality  and 
crime. 

The  dissolution  of  the  monasteries  and    _.     ,    . 

Dissolution 

permission  of  the  marriage  of  the  parochial    of  monaste- 

1  •      ii  1  i  •        J     •        '"ies  and  per- 

clergy  were  m  themselves  steps  gamed  m    mission  to 
civilization  of  great  importance  in  a  moral    ^^.-ry^aL-p 
and  political,  as  well  as  in  a  religious  point   'n  civilization. 
of  view. 

(/)  Tftfluence  on  Popular  Religion. 

In  yet  another  way  did  the  Protestant  revolution  suc- 
ceed in  promoting  national  life  and  the  aims  of  Christian 
civilization. 


224         Results  of  the  Protestant  Rcvolutioti.     pt.  ill. 

It  made  religion  less  a  thing  of  the  clergy  and  more  a 
thing' oT  the  people.  It  gave  the  peopre  reBgious  ser- 
„,  vices  in  their  own  languages  instead  of  in 

The  Protes-  to       & 

tant  move-  an  unknown  tongue.  By  placing  within 
larized  re"'  their  reach  the  Christian  Scriptures  in  their 
''S'°"'  own  language  it  led  them  to  think  for  them- 

selves, and  to  be  directly  influenced  by  Christianity  as 
taught  by  its  founder  and  apostles.  It  tended  to 
strengthen  individual  conviction  and  conscience,  and  so 
ultimately  it  led,  though  with  many  drawbacks,  to  fur- 
ther steps  being  gained  towards  freedom  of  thought. 

It  is  well  to  mark    also  that  this  bringing  of  religion 

nearer  home  to  the  individual  conscience  of  the  masses 

of  the  people,  and  cultivation  of  individual 

and  brought  '■        ^ 

it  into  har-         responsibility   rather    than    reliance    on   a 

mony  with  -11  i  1  i     i  1     •  • 

true  Chris-  pricstliood  or  a  church,  tended  to  bring  it 
m^dern^"'*  iTiore  into  harmony,  not  only  with   the  ten- 

civiUzation.  deiicics  of  modern  civilization  but  also  with 
the  essential  character  of  Christianity  itself,  as  conceived 
by  its  founder  and  his  apostles,  and  so  to  make  it  once 
more  the  great  civilizing  influence  which  from  the  rirst 
it  was  intended  to  be. 

Christianity  was  without  doubt  the  power  which  more 
than  anything  else  produced  the  great  movement  of  the 
,,  ,  era,  and  turned  the  civilization  of  the  future 

Modern  .  ,  .,       ,  , 

civilization  into  the  course  we  have  described.  The 
chief  charac-  mere  humanists  had  not  succeeded  in  im- 
Chrlst'ia'ni'  pressing  the  semi-pagan  stamp  of  their  phi- 
losophy upon  it.  Had  they  done  so  the 
principle  of  the  old  Roman  civilization — the  good  of  the 
few  at  the  expense  of  the  many — might  have  marked 
the  civilization  of  the  future  as  it  had  done  that  of  the 
past.  But  we  have  seen  it  was  the  men  of  deepest 
Christian  convictions — the  religious  reformers — who  sue- 


CH.  VII.  Results  of  the  Era.  225 

ceeded  in  giving  their  impress  to  the  era.  It  is  thus  to 
Christianity  more  than  to  anything  else  that  we  owe  the 
direction  given  in  the  era  to  modern  civiUzation,  its  char- 
acteristic aim  to  attain  the  highest  good  for  the  whole 
community. 

[g)    Wajit  of  Progress  in  Toleration. 

There  was  one  thing  especially  in  which  there  seemed 
to  be  reaction  rather  than  progress  during  the  era,  viz.  in 
toleration. 

We  said  that  one  great  work  of  the  era  was  to  set 
men's  minds  free  from  ecclesiastical  and  scholastic  thral- 
dom— to  set  both  science  and  religion  free,  for  without 
this  freedom  there  could  be  no  real  progress  in  civiliza- 
tion. 

In  fact,  an  immense  number  of  minds  had  got  free 
from  that  particular  ecclesiastical  and  scholastic  thral- 
dom against  which  they  had  rebelled  in  be-    ^, 

•  x->  A       1      1  •       •      •        1  /-  Change  from 

commg  Protestant.  And  this  m  itself  was  Catholic  to 
no  small  result.  But  what  has  already  been  cre°dswas 
said  must  have  made  it  clear  that  the  Pro-    c^^ange  |rom 

one  rigid 

testant  reformers,  in  adopting  the  theology    scholastic 

•  1    •       •     •  1      •       creed  to 

of  St.  Augustine,  and  msistmg  upon  their   another 
followers     adopting     the     new     Protestant   ^'^"^  ^  "^'  ' 
creeds,  did  but  appeal  from  the  scholastic  standards  of 
their  day  to  others  just  as  rigid. 

The  Oxford  Reformers  had  aimed  at  leaving  people 
open  to  form  their  own  honest  judgment  on  various 
points  of  theology  and  practice,  according    ^     „ 

^  .  .  ,  Small  connex- 

to  their  own  consciences,  and  urged   that    ion  between 
people  with  different  opinions  and  practice    domoVThougiit 
might  be  members  of  the  same  Christian    f "f^  o"i""^'"^ 
Church,  have  charity  one  towards  another, 
and  agree  to  differ  without  quarrelling.     But  how  hard  a 


226         Results  of  the  Protestant  Revolution,      px.  in. 

thing  it  was  to  get  people  to  do  this  we  see  from  the  case 
of  Sir  Thomas  More  himself,  who,  though  he  had  advo- 
cated toleration  in  his  'Utopia,' yet  afterwards,  seeing 
the  anarchy  Protestantism  had  led  to  on  the  Continent, 
and  fearing  its  spreading  to  England,  became  himself  a 
persecutor.  We  must  not  be  surprised  after  this  that  the 
Protestant  Reformers  failed  also  in  the  same  respect.  It 
is  strange  to  see  how  little  connexion  there  seems  to  be 
between  claiming  freedom  of  thought  and  conceding  it 
to  others. 

Lutherans  persecuted  Catholics  as  well  as  Catholics 
Protestants  ;  and,  worse  still,  they  persecuted  their  fel- 
low-Protestants who  followed  Zwingle  and  Calvin  rather 
than  Luther.  So  Calvin  put  Servetus  to  death,  and  ex- 
So  persecution  ercised  a  thoroughly  intolerant  rule  in 
the  perseiLted  Geneva.  So  the  English  Government,  after 
tolerant.  ^j^g  rcvolt  from  Rome,  persecuted  Protes- 

tants, and  soon  after  ordered  by  statute  practices  which 
a  few  years  before  they  had  condemned.  So  the  Catho- 
lic Government  of  Queen  Mary  shed  the  blood  of  Pro- 
testants again.  So  the  English  Protestant  Church  of 
after  generations  persecuted  the  Puritans.  So  finally, 
the  Puritans,  fleeing  from  persecution  to  New  England, 
put  people  to  death  for  no  other  crime  than  that  they 
honestly  preached  doctrines  differing  from  their  own ! 
Looking  at  these  facts,  one  would  certainly  say  that  the 
Protestant  struggle  had  not  made  men  more  tolerant ! 

And  yet,  in  spite  of  this  temporary  failure,  toleration 

was  a  distant   fruit   of  the   great   movement  we  have 

traced.      In  this   era  its    first    seeds   were 

Yet  toleration  .     ^ 

was  after  all  sown.  Sir  Thonias  More's  '  Utopia  was 
m'ate  resuUs  of  perhaps  the  first  clear  statement  of  the  doc- 
the  Protestant    t:rine  of  tolcration.     The  works  of  Erasmus 

revolution. 

did    something,    probably    mere    than    is 


CH.  VII.  Results  of  tlte  Era.  227 

known,  to  prepare  the  minds  of  men  for  its  ultimate 
adoption.  The  strength  of  conscientious  conviction 
which  Protestantism  created  made  men  claim  freedom 
as  a  right,  and  after  all,  the  men  who  were  fighting  the 
battle  of  toleration  with  most  effect,  were  the  men  whose 
strength  of  conscientious  conviction  made  them  endure 
persecution  rather  than  surrender  their  freedom  of  con- 
science, even  though  they  themselves,  under  other  cir- 
cumstances, might  have  been  persecutors. 

(/^)  The  Causes  why  the  Success  of  the  Era  was  so  partial. 

We  might,  in  view  simply  of  its  immediate  results — 
the  wars  and  bloodshed,  and  anarchy,  persecutions,  and 
heartburnings  which  came  out  of  it — be  inclined  to  re- 
gard the  failures  of  the  era  of  the  Protestant  revolution 
as  greater  than  the  good  we  owe  to  it. 

This  would  be  false.     It  would  be  to  forget  that  pro- 
gress in  civilization  is  of  necessity  like  that    „ 
of  the  advancing  tide,  made  up  of  ebbs  and    must  be 
flows.     It  is  well  also  to  note  clearly  the   ^™ 
cause  of  the  failures,  and  especially  of  those  of  which  we 
have  just  been  speaking. 

Let  us  ask  ourselves  why  did  not  the  human  mind  in 
this  era  free  itself  from  its  trammels,  claim  its  true 
freedom,    and    concede    it    to    everyone  ?   Limited  by 

rr.,  •       x^i_     ^    -i  •  -11  T'l  the  range  of 

The  answer  IS,  that  it  was  impossible.      Ine    men's  know- 
range  of  knowledge  was  too  narrow.    Men's    '•^'^s^- 
minds  could  not  take  a  broader  view  of  things  than  the 
horizon  of  their  knowledge  let  them. 

Let  us  try  to  realize  what  were  the  bounds  of  their 
knowledge  in  some  directions. 

They  knew  that  the  earth  is  a  globe,  and  in  their  own 
time  Magellan,  for  tlie  first  time,  had  sailed  round  it. 


2  28         Residts  of  tlie  Protestant  Revolution,    pt.  iii. 
But  they  thoueht  the  earth  was  in  the  centre 

Limited  view  ^     ,  .  ,      ,  ,,      ,       i  , 

oftheuni-  01  the  univ^crse,  and  that  all  the  heavenly 

^^"^^^  bodies  move    round    it    every  twenty-four 

hours.  The  notion  that  it  was  the  earth  that  moved  they 
The  earth  thought  to  be  absurd.     We  should  see  the 

tobi'irthe'  motion,  they  said.  At  the  rate  it  would 
centre.  have  to  move,  it  would  leave  the  clouds  be- 

hind it  as  it  went,  and  towers  and  church  steeples 
would  be  thrown  down  by  the  violence  of  so  rapid  a 
motion ! 

So  the  earth  stands  still,  they  maintained  in  the  centre 
of  the  universe.  The  heavenly  bodies  were  supposed 
The  crystal-  ^°  rotate  on  what  were  called  crystalline 
line  spheres.  spheres.  The  first  was  the  sphere  of  the 
moon — all  things  confined  within  it  were  called  .j«<^/z^«arj/ 
things.  They  were  supposed  by  some  to  be  under  such 
pressure  as  made  the  heaviest  things  all  tend  towards 
the  centre,  while  the  lightest  things  tended  upwards.  It 
was  sometimes  said  that  it  was  in  the  nature  of  fire  and 
air  to  rise,  while  it  was  the  nature  of  water  and  earth  to 
fall  towards  the  centre.  In  rough  ways  like  these  they 
tried  to  account  for  the  facts  which  are  now  attributed  to 
the  force  of  gravitation.  The  spheres  beyond  the  moon 
were  called  celestial  spheres.  First,  they  thought,  came 
those  of  Mercury,  Venus,  and  the  Sun,  then  in  order 
those  of  Mars,  Jupiter,  and  Saturn  ;  then  that  of  the  fixed 
stars,  and,  outside  all,  a  ninth  sphere,  called  primtwi 
mobile,  which  gave  motion  to  all  the  others.  They  be- 
Heaven  lieved  further,  in  a  vague  way,  that  heaven 

beyond.  came    beyond.        Theologians    speculated 

upon  what  sort  of  a  sphere  that  of  heaven  must  be,  and 
Erasmus,  in  his  '  Praise  of  Folly,'  laughed  at  their 
'  creating  new  spheres  at  pleasure,  this  the  largest  and 
most  beautiful  being  added  that,  forsooth,  happy  spirits 


CH.  VII.  Results  of  the  Era,  229 

might  have  room  enough  to  take  a  walk,  to  spread  their 
feasts,  or  play  at  ball.' 

Such   was   the   universe  of  spheres,    one   within   the 
other,  which  they  thought  all  moved  round  the  earth  in 
the  centre  every  twenty-four  hours.     It  was   The  motions 
a  small  thing  altogether,  compared  with  the   regarded  "" 
vastly  wider  and  grander  universe,  a  little   with  awe, 
bit  of  which  modern  science  has  revealed  to  us,  but  it 
was  a  marvellous  universe  still,  and  its  mysteries  filled 
them  with  awe  when  they  thought  of  it. 

When  asked  questions  about  it,  some  wise  men  like 
Erasmus  answered,  '  God  only  knows.'  But  more  super- 
stitious minds   gave   far   different   answers,    ^^^  ;„  popy. 

Luther,  who  saw  the  action  of  the  Devil  in    't'''  supersti- 
tion referred 

every    accident    which    befell   him,    stood   to  angels. 
aghast  at  the  magic  motions  of  the  celestial  spheres,  as 
'  no  doubt  done  by  some  angel.'  Many  wise    . 

/  °  ^  Astrology. 

men  still  believed  in  astrology.  They  could 
not  bring  themselves  to  believe  that  the  stars  and  planets, 
looking  down  upon  our  world,  had  not  some  magic 
meaning.  When  comets  came,  they  saw  in  them  omi- 
nous presages  of  coming  events.  Pico  and  Ficino, 
Colct,  Erasmus,  and  More  had  all  tried  to  x.auehed  at 
laugh   people   out   of  belief   in    astrology,    by  some  but 

>^        r       r  ^  bj        beheved  m 

Luther,  too,  laughed  at  it,  but  Melanchthon    by  others, 
still  held  on  to  the  old  belief  in  spite  of  Luther's  argu- 
ments and  jests.     How  can  there  be  anything  in  astro- 
logy, Luther  used  to  say  to  him,  since  Jacob  and  Esau 
were  born  under  the  same  star ! 

The  same  kind  of  superstition  which  attributed  the 
motions  of  the  planets  to  angels,  and  magic  influence  on 
the  affairs  of  men  to   the  stars,  made  men    „  ,.  ,. 

1  Ti       1     T  ...  ,    .  Behef  in 

the  more  readily  believe  in  visions  and  in-   visions  and 

.■  1  ,  ...  inspirations. 

spirations,  such  as  we  have  seen  in  the  case 


230        Results  of  the  Protestant  Revolution,    pt.  in. 

of  the  wilder  reformers  from  Savonarola  down  to  Miin- 
zer  and  Loyola.  Luther  himself  was  remarkably  free 
from  these  things — he  never  claimed  either  visions  or  in- 
spirations, as  the  wilder  prophets  did ;  but,  as  an  in- 
stance of  how  superstitious  even  he  was,  it  may  be  men- 
tioned that  he  and  Melanchthon  devoutly  believed  that 
a  monster  had  been  found  in  the  Tiber,  with 

and  in  prodi-         ,       ,  ,      r  1       1       i         r  j 

gies.  the  head  ot  an  ass,  the  body  oi  a  man,  and. 

the  claws  of  a  bird.  After  searching  their  Bibles  to  find 
out  what  the  prodigy  meant,  they  concluded  that  it  was 
one  of  the  signs  and  wonders  which  were  to  precede 
the  fall  of  the  papacy,  and  published  a  pamphlet  about 
it. 

Luther  again,  and  probably  everybody  else,  believed 
in  witchcraft.  Hundreds  and  thousands  of  poor  wretches 
^,  .        ,  were  burned  for  the  supposed  crime  of  hav- 

Universal  . 

belief  in  mg  sold  thcmselvcs  to  the  powers  of  evil, 

and     having    held    communion    with    evil 

spirits.  And  stranger  still  is  it  that  the  number  of  witches 

,,,.   ,  burned  was  rapidly  on  the  increase.    There 

Witches  as  ^        "^ 

well  as  here-      Were  more  witches  burned  in  the  i6th  cen- 

tics  burned.  ,  .  .  , 

tury  than  in  any  previous  one,  and  more 
still  in  the  next. 

Heresy  and  witchcraft  were  looked  upon  as  nearly 
allied,  and  probably  the  zeal  against  botVi  grew  together. 
Nor  was  the  cruel  death  allotted  to  these  supposed  crimes 
out  of  proportion  to  that  of  others.  Thousands  and 
thousands  of  people  were  hung  in  England  for  no  other 
crime  but  that  of  vagrancy  and  '  sturdy  begging.'     The 

system  of  criminal  law  was  everywhere 
criminal  law       brutal.     Soon  after  the  Peasants'  War,  the 

Prince  Bishop  of  Bamberg  published  a 
popular  criminal  law  book  for  the  benefit  of  his  subjects 
— his  poor  crushed  peasantry  among  others — in  which 


CH.  VII.  Results  of  the  Era.  231 

were  inserted  wood-cuts  of  thumb-screws,  the  rack,  the 
gallows,  the  stake,  pincers  for  pulling  out  the  tongue, 
men  with  their  eyes  put  out  or  their  heads  cut  off,  or 
mangled  on  the  wheel,  or  suspended  by  the  arms  with 
weights  hung  on  their  feet,  and  so  on,  and  then,  to  add 
the  terrors  of  another  world  (as  if  these  humanly  in- 
flicted tortures  were  not  enough),  there  was  a  blasphe- 
mous picture  representing  the  day  of  judgment,  and  the 
hobgoblins  carrying  off  their  victims  to  hell.  The  Prince 
Bishop,  we  may  suppose,  had  learned  a  lesson  from 
Luther,  and  produced,  as  he  thought,  a  good  book  for 
the  laity,  meant,  not  like  Luther's,  to  dispel  men's  fears 
of  the  Pope,  but  to  frighten  his  poor  subjects  into  sub- 
mission to  his  episcopal  and  princely  authority.  This 
may  be  taken  as  an  example  both  of  the  way  in  which 
civil  and  ecclesiastical  power  were  sometimes  blended 
together,  and  of  the  brutality  of  the  times. 

Such  an  age  was  not  ready  for  wider  views.  Further 
knowledge  of  the  laws  of  nature  must  come   ^, 

.  .  Ill  T"^  ^Se  not 

before    popular   superstitions  could  be  re-    prepared  for 
moved,  and  until  this  was  done  it  would  be 
in  vain  to  look  for  much  progress  in  toleration  and  free- 
dom of  thought. 

(z)  Begi7ining  of  Progress  in  Scientific  Inquiry. 

Nevertheless  the  era  of  which  we  have  spoken  was 
the  beginning  of  the  era  of  freedom.  From  it  dated  a 
great  awaking  of  human  thought.     Its  great    ^ 

U-       1     J-  u     J  J  Beginning  of 

geographical  discoverers  had  opened   new    scientific  in- 
fields for  scientific  inquiry.     N^t  only  had   '^""^^' 
navigators  been  round  the  world,  but  they  had  seen  as 
it  were  the  rest  of  the  sky.     They  had  seen  the  south 
polestar  and  the  Southern  Cross  in  their  voyages  round 
the  Cape    of  Good    Hope.     Thus  was  not   only  their 


232         Results  of  the  Protesia7it  Revolution,     pt.  iii. 

geographical  but  also  their  astronomical  knowledge 
widened. 

A  beginning  of  truer  and  wider  views  of  the  universe 
was  almost  a  natural  consequence,  but  to  attain  to  it 
scholastic  and  even  ecclesiastical  bonds  had  to  be 
loosened.  A  scientific  Luther  was  wanted  to  burst 
through  them,  but  the  age  did  not  produce  such  a  man. 
Nevertheless  it  did  produce  one  who  silently  lived  and 
worked  timidly  to  demonstrate  that  the  motions  of  the 
planets  and  the  moon  can  only  be  fully  accounted  for  on 
the  hypothesis  that  the  sun  and  not  the  earth  is  the  cen- 
tre of  the  solar  system,  that  the  moon  is  a  satellite  of 
the  earth,  and  that  the  sphere  of  the  fixed  stars  is  at  an 
immense  distance  from  the  farthest  of  the  planetary 
spheres.  Our  present  theory  of  the  solar  system  is  still 
sometimes  called  after  his  name,  Copernican,  though  it 
is  far  more  truly  called  after  Newton. 

Nicolas  Copernicus  died  two  years  before  Luther. 
His  story  is  that  of  a  brave  life,  and  one  which  may 
^^    ,     ^  well   be   set  by  the  side  of   that   of  other 

Nicolas  Co-  / 

pernicus.  great   men    of  the   era.     Educated   at   the 

University  of  Cracow,  in  Poland,  he  after- 
wards proceeded  to  Rome,  and  studied  under  the  best 
astronomer  of  the  day.  Then  he  spent  a  long  life  in 
working  out  his  grand  scientific  problem  from  careful 
observations  and  according  to  the  best  lights  he  could 
get.  He  was  loyal  to  the  Church.  He  did  not  want  to 
be  a  heretic,  and  yet  the  great  truth  he  had  to  tell  was 
contrary  to  the  teaching  of  the  Church.  For  thirty-six 
years — all  the  time  the  Protestant  struggle  was  raging — 
he  was  working  at  the  immortal  book  in  which  his  ob- 
servations and  discoveries  were  embodied,  but  he  did 
not  venture  to  publish  it  till  under  Paul  III.  there  was  a 
lull  in  the  ecclesiastical  storm.  He  was  then  an  eld  man. 


CH.  VIII.       Economic  Results  of  the  Era.  233 

in  broken  health ;  his  book  was  in  the 
printer's  hands  when  he  was  on  his  death-  no't^  ^pubu^shed 
bed.  All  he  cared  for  now  was  to  see  it  [,'"  ^je  Jh-beT 
safe  in  print  before  he  died.  He  waited  at 
death's  door  day  after  day.  At  last  the  printer's  mes- 
senger came  with  the  printed  book.  He  received  it  with 
tears  in  his  eyes,  composed  himself  and  died.  This 
was  in  1543,  and  he  was  seventy  years  old.  He  was  fol- 
lowed by  other  scientific  discoverers — Tycho  Brahe, 
Kepler,  and  Galileo.  Thus  the  brave  life  of  Copernicus 
may  be  taken  as  marking  the  epoch  when  scientific 
thought  and  inquiry  began  to  free  itself  from  theologi- 
cal trammels  and  to  seek  to  discover  the  laws  of  nature 
by  a  simple,  childlike,  and  careful  observation  of  facts. 
But  necessarily  many  generations  must  pass  away  before 
men  became  used  to  scientific  modes  of  research  and  of 
thouffht. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

ECONOMIC   RESULTS   OF   THE   ERA. 

Amongst  the  powers  which  belonged  to  the  old  order 
of  things,  and  which  were  going  out,  the  feudal  system 
was  mentioned  as  silently  giving  way  under    „      , 

^   °  1        r  Results  of  the 

the  combined  influence  of  the  growth  of  the   era  on  what  re- 

^      ,  .      ,,  1  ■  1      r    mained  of  the 

central  power  m  the  modern  nations  and  of  feudal  system. 
commerce. 

The  results  of  the  era  in  hastening  the  dissolution  of 
the  feudal  system  require  a  few  words  of  further  expla- 
nation. 

In  Germany,  we  have  seen,  serfdom — the  essential  of 
which,  it  will   be  remembered,  was    services   of   forced 


234  Results  of  the  Protestant  Revolution,  pt.  in. 
,    ^  personal   labor  in  return  for  occupation  of 

In  Oermany  ^ 

personal  ser-  land — remained  unchanged,  except  for  the 
tinued.  worse,  after  the  Peasants'  War,  and  lasted 

on  till  the  beginning  of  the   present  cen- 
tury. 
In  France  serfdom  was  a  thing  of  the  past,  but  there 
In  France  remained  numberless  feudal  rents  and  pay- 

feudal  rents        ments  made  chiefly  hi  kind  (i.  e.  in  produce 

and   payments  -'  -'  ^  ^ 

chiefly  in  kind   of  the  land)  which  the  peasantry  went  on 

continued  till  .  .,,     ,       „  ,     _,  ,      .  ^  _ 

1798.  paymg  till  the  French  Revolution  of  1798, 

In  England  serfdom  was  gone,  but  had  left  behind  it 
fixed  rents  in  money  instead  of  the  old  feudal  payments 
,    ^    ,     ,        in   services  or  in  kind.     These  rents  were 

In  England 

feudal  rents  Originally  nearly  equal  to  the  annual  value 
hi^fixedmoney  of  the  land.  But  an  economic  cause  came 
payments.  jj^^.^  pj^y  during  the  era  which,  while  it  did 
not  help  the  German  peasant  nor  the  French  peasant  who 
paid  his  rent  in  kind,  lessened  the  burden  of 

Effect  of  the         ^ 

discovery  of  the  English  peasant's  rent  so  much  as  to 
mi'nes^rthe  change  his  position  gradually  into  that  of  an 
New  World.      absolute  owner. 

This  economic  cause  was  the  discovery  of  the  silver 
and  gold  mines  in  the  New  World. 

It  made  silver  more  plentiful,  and  therefore  cheaper  in 
proportion  to  other  things,  such  as  corn  and  land.  In 
other  words,  it  increased  the  price  in  pence  and  shillings 
^,    ,  „  .    ,      of  almost  everything.     A  penny  or  a  shilling 

The  fall  in  the  ■'  °  * 

value  of  money    would  not  buy  SO  much  com  after  as  before 

caused  a  great      ,  .  , .  i  j  • 

rise  in  prices,  the  new  mines  were  discovered ;  and  as  in 
England  Tudor  monarchs  at  the  same  time 
for  their  own  purposes,  lessened  the  weight  of  silver  in 
the  penny  and  shilling  by  about  one-third,  the  effect  of 
the  increased  plenty  of  silver  was  made  all  the  greater; 
6s.  would  buy  a  quarter  of  wheat  at  the  beginning  of  the 


CH.  VIII.        Economic  Residts  of  the  Era.  235 

centur)'',  it  took  38^.  6d.  to  buy  a  quarter  of  wheat  at  the 
end  of  it.  The  annual  value  of  land  was  about  \d.  per 
acre  at  the  beginning  of  the  century„3o^.  at  the  end  of  it. 
The  German  peasant  was  not  helped  by  this,  for  he 
had  to  work  just  as  many  hours  a  day  for  his  feudal 
landlord  at  the  end  as  at  the  beginning  of  ^, .    ,. , 

°  °  This  did  not 

the  century.  lessen  the  Ger- 

The  French  peasant,  so  far  as  he  paid  in   ^^icesf^^" 
produce,  was  not  helped  by  it,  because  the    ~^^^  ^^^ 
price  of  his  produce  had  increased  as  fast  as    French  pea- 

,  fill  11-  -J     sant's  rents  in 

the  value  of  the  land,  and  his  rent  remamed   produce. 
the  same  burden  as  before. 

But  the  English  peasant,  who  in  the  year  1500 
paid  \d.  an  acre  fixed  rent  for  his  land,  which  was  then 
worth    about  JLd.   an   acre   in   the   market,    r^    .       ,      . 

,  .  .  But  It  reduced 

found  himself  in  1600,  if  he  still  held  on  to  the  burden  of 

his  land,  still  paying  only  \d.  an  acre,  while  peasants'  rents 

his  land  was  worth  in  the  market  six,  seven,  l/thor'iVh  of 

or  eight  times  as  much  as  that.     His  burden  the  value  of 

°  their  land. 

of  rent  was  reduced  to  ^th  or  ^th  of  what  it    This  would 

J         ,  have  made 

used  to  be.  them  peasant 

Had  the   English   peasantry  held  on  to   ^X'hey  held 
their  land  as  the  German  and  French  pea-   ?"  '°  „*='"■,  . 

.  land.  But  their 

sants  did,  they  would  thus  have  grown  into    tendency  was 

,,  .       to  leave  their 

peasant  proprietors,  paying  very  small  nomi-    land  and  be- 
nal  rents  for  their  land.     But  other  economic    fo°"'J^g^°"'''" 
causes  were  at  work,  tending  to  loosen  them 
from  their  little  holdings  and  make  them  labourers  for 
wages.     The  growth  of  commerce  and  manufactures  at- 
tracted them  to  the  towns,  the  large  farms  of  men  with 
capital  more  and  more  took  the  place  of  the  little  peasant 
holdings,  and  thus  began  the  present  state  of  things  in 
which  England  differs  so  much  from  other  countries. 
There  were   perhaps,  in   the  year  1500,  about  half  a 


236         Results  of  the  Protestmit  Revolution,     pt.  iii. 


Change  from 
peasant  pro- 
prietorship 
of  land  or 
of  looms  to 
labour  tor 
wages. 


million  families  in  England  living  by  the  land,  and  most 
were,  or  had  been,  farming  some  little  bit  of 
land  for  themselves.  Perhaps  there  were  not 
so  many  as  a  quarter  of  a  million  families 
earning  their  living  by  trade  or  manufactures 
in  the  towns,  and  most  of  them  owning  their 
own  workshops  or  looms. 
The  half  million  agricultural  families  have  now  grown 
into  about  a  million.  These  no  longer  are  occupiers  of 
land,  but  are  mostly  working  for  wages  for  a  few  hun- 
dred thousand  farmers.  But  in  the  meantime  the  two 
or  three  hundred  thousand  families  living  by  trade  and 
manufactures  have  increased  to  3,000,000,  and  these 
again,  as  a  general  rule,  like  their  agricultural  brethren, 
have  become  workers  for  wages,  and  no  longer  are 
owners  of  their  own  workshops  and  looms. 

We  probably  owe  this  to  the  growth  of  capital  and 
commercial  enterprise,  stimulated  by  the  increased  profit 
which  comes  from  division  of  labour,  and 
doing  things  on  a  large  scale  by  machinery 
rather  than  on  a  small  scale  as  of  old  by 
hand  labour.  But  what  we  have  to  mark 
here  is  that  the  beginnings  of  these  great 
changes  were  already  at  work  in  the  era  of 
which  we  have  been  speaking,  and  that  in  their  course 
the  last  remains  of  the  old  feudal  system  have  been  demo- 
lished in  England.  We  only  see  in  England  now  traces 
of  a  sort  of  mock-feudalism  in  the  deer 
forests  and  game  preserves,  and  antiquated 
forms  and  customs  still  clinging  to  the  laws 
of  land  tenure.  These  things  are  survivals 
of  a  system  which  once  had  life,  but  which 
belonged  to  the  old  order  of  things.  In  the 
l6th  century  it  was  already  fast  dying  out 


chiefly  the 
result  of  the 
growth  of 
commerce 
and  capital, 
and  the  use 
of  machinery. 


These  changes 
had  begun 
in  the  i6th 
century,  and 
they  com- 
pleted the- 
silent  down- 
fall of  the 
feudal  system 
in  England. 


CH.  VIII.  Conclusion.  237 

to  make  way  for  commercial  enterprise  and  all  that 
belongs  to  the  new  order  of  things — an  order  of  things 
which  has  muldplied  by  six  or  seven  the  population  of 
England,  and  peopled  with  about  an  equal  additional 
number  of  Englishmen  those  great  colonies  for  which 
the  maritime  enterprise  of  the  i6th  century  first  opened 
the  way. 


CONCLUSION. 


In  the  introductory  chapter  we  said  that  the  passage 
from  the  old  decaying  form  of  civilization  to  the  new, 
better,  and  stronger  one,  involved  a  change  which  must 
needs  take  place  slowly  and  by  degrees ;  but  that  in  the 
era  under  review  was  to  be  the  aisis  of  the  change — the 
final  struggle  between  the  two  forces. 

We  have  now  traced  the  main  lines  of  the  history  of 
this  crisis,  and  tried  to  point  out  its  connexion  with  the 
future  as  well  as  with  the  past.  We  have  seen  that 
the  Protestant  revolution  was  but  one  wave 

^   ,  ,  .  .  ,        ^  ,  .....  The  Protes- 

of  the  advancmg  tide  of  modern  civilization,  tant  revoiu- 
It  was  a  great  revolutionary  wave,  the  on-  begi^itngof 
ward  swell  of  which,  beginning   with   the   agreatrevo- 

°  ^  lutionary 

refusal  of  reform  at  the  Diet  of  Worms,  pro-   wave  which 
duced  the  Peasants'  War  and  the  Sack  of  ire„ch 
Rome,  swept  on  through   the  revolt  of  the   of'iTgs."'"' 
Netherlands,  the  Thirty   Years'    War,   the 
Puritan  Revolution  in  England  under  Oliver  Cromwell, 
the  formation  of  the  great   independent   American  re- 
public, until   it  came  to  a  head  and  broke   in  all  the 
terrors  of  the  French  Revolution. 

It  is  impossible  not  to  see  in  the  course  of  the  events 
of    this   remarkable   period    an   onward   movement   as 


238         Results  of  the  Protestant  Reiwlution.     pt.  hi. 


irresistible  and  certain  in  its  ultimate  pro- 
gress as  that  of  the  geological  changes  which 
have  passed  over  the  physical  world. 

It  is  in  vain  to  speculate  upon  what  might 
have  been  the  result  of  the  concession  of 
broad  measures  of  reform  everywhere  (as  in 
England)  whilst  yet  there  was  time  ;  but  in 
view  of  the  bloodshed  and  misery  which,  humanly 
speaking,  might  have  been  spared,  who  can  fail  to  be 
impressed  with  the  terrible  responsibility,  in 
the  eye  of  history,  resting  upon  those  by 
whom  in  the  i6th  century,  at  the  time  of  the 
crisis,  the  reform  was  refused  ?  They  were 
utterly  powerless,  indeed,  to  stop  the  ultimate 
flow  of  the  tide,  but  they  had  the  terrible 
power  to  turn,  what  might  otherwise  have 
been  a  steady  and  peaceful  stream,  into  a  turbulent  and 
devastating  flood.  They  had  the  terrible  power,  and 
they  used  it,  to  involve  their  own  and  ten  succeeding 
generations  in  the  turmoils  of  revolution. 


The  move- 
ment was 
inevitable, 
and  might 
have  been 
peacefully 
met  and 
aided  by 
timely  re- 
forms. 


But  the 
refusal  of 
reform  at  the 
time  of  the 
crisis  in- 
volved ten 
generations 
in  the 
turmoils  of 
revolution. 


NOTES  ON  BOOKS  IN  ENGLISH  RELATING 
TO  THE  REFORMATION. 


The  term  "  Reformation"  is  used  by  historical  writers 
in  two  meanings.  It  quite  frequently  denotes  the  reli- 
gious movement,  which  began  under  the  auspices  of 
Luther,  Calvin,  Cranmer  and  other  leaders,  and  in- 
volved an  emancipation  from  the  rule  of  the  Papacy, 
and  an  important  change  in  the  interpretation  of  the 
Gospel,  as  well  as  in  the  rites  of  Christian  worship. 
The  Reformation,  as  thus  regarded,  is  an  exclusively 
religious  and  ecclesiastical  revolution.  As  such,  it 
forms  a  portion  of  the  history  of  Christianity  and  the 
Church.  At  the  same  time,  Protestantism,  as  a  religious 
system,  was  partly  dependent  for  its  origin  on  circum- 
stances which  properly  fall  within  the  province  of  secu- 
lar history ;  and  the  progress  of  Protestantism,  and  of 
the  conflict  with  the  Papacy,  is  inextricably  connected 
with  the  general  course  of  European  affairs.  Hence, 
the  general  condition  of  society  at  the  opening  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  the  causes  other  than  religious  which 
prepared  for  the  outbreaking  of  the  great  Protest  against 
Rome,  and  the  events  of  political  history  which  link 
themselves  to  the  religious  Reform,  must  fall  under  the 
notice  of  a  historian  who  takes  a  comprehensive  view 
of  his  subject. 

But  the  term  "  Reformation  "  is  frequently  used  with 
more  latitude  as  a  convenient  designation  for  the  open- 
ing era  of  modern  history, — the  history  of  the  post- 
mediasval  times.     While  the   religious  reform  was  one 

239 


240  Notes  on  Books  in  English 

leading  and  defining  characteristic  of  the  new  era,  it 
Avas  not  the  sole  peculiarity  that  distinguished  it.  On 
the  contrary,  various  and  complex  elements,  appear  in 
the  modern  as  distinguished  from  the  mediaeval  period. 
Events  like  the  growth  of  monarchy,  the  spread  of  Com- 
merce, the  new  birth  of  Art,  the  Revival  of  Learning,  are 
essential  features  in  that  form  of  society  which  gradually 
arose,  and  followed  upon  the  Middle  Ages.  The  histo- 
rian who  undertakes  to  describe  the  era  as  a  whole  must 
give  its  proper  place  to  each  of  these  new  elements. 
He  must  trace  each  to  its  sources,  and  form  an  estimate 
of  the  reciprocal  influence  and  collective  effect  of  each 
of  these  features  of  society  as  it  emerged  from  the 
mediaeval  condition.  But  he  will,  under  such  a  plan, 
still  be  obliged  to  give  a  central  place  to  the  religious 
movement,  both  in  the  centuries  which  preceded  Luther, 
and  in  the  age  contemporaneous  with  him.  The  Pro- 
testant religion  cannot  be  considered  as  an  incident; 
it  must  be  treated  as  a  vital,  as  the  most  commanding, 
fact  in  the  new  epoch.  So  that  whether  the  Reforma- 
tion is  taken  in  the  more  special  sense  to  which  we  first 
adverted,  or  in  the  more  comprehensive  meaning,  the 
same  facts  come  under  the  survey  of  the  historian.  The 
difference  is  chiefly  in  the  point  of  view  from  which 
these  facts  are  regarded,  which  will  of  course  determine 
their  grouping.  As  regards  the  mediaeval  period,  secu- 
lar history  and  ecclesiastical  history  are  inseparable. 
Neither  can  be  studied  apart  from  the  other.  If  a  divi- 
sion is  more  possible  as  relates  to  the  modern  era,  still 
even  here,  one  class  of  phenomena  are  so  closely  asso- 
ciated with  another,  that  ecclesiastical  history  cannot  be 
understood  apart  from  secular,  nor  can  secular  history 
be  adequately  studied  apart  from  ecclesiastical.  The 
life  of  nations,  as  of  men,  is  one. 


Relating  to  the  Reformation.  241 

In  the  following  list  of  some  of  the  most  useful  works 
to  be  found  in  English  on  the  Reformation,  general 
literary  works,  as  well  as  distinctively  ecclesiastical  wri- 
ters, are  included. 

I.  The  Period  before  Luther.  On  Wickliffe,  the  Re- 
forming Councils,  and  the  beginnings  of  the  Revival  of 
Learning,  the  last  two  (viith  and  viiith)  volumes  of  Mil- 
man's  Lafifi  Christianity  are  valuable.  The  fifth  vol- 
ume of  the  same  work  describes  the  Waldenses  and 
other  sects,  of  an  earlier  date.  Ullmann's  Refonners 
before  the  Reformation  (2  vols.,  Edinburgh,  1855)  gives 
an  excellent  account  of  the  theological  and  religious 
forerunners  of  Luther,  especially  in  Germany.  Gillett's 
Life  and  Times  of  John  Huss  (2  vols.,  187 1)  is  a  reada- 
ble narrative  of  the  career  of  the  Bohemian  Reformer. 
Villari's  Life  of  Savotiarota  is  a  thorough  biography  (2 
vols.,  1873).  With  it  may  be  read  George  Eliot's  (Mrs. 
Lewes's)  Romola.  The  most  recent  Life  of  Erasmus  is 
by  Drummond  (2  vols.,  1873).  Milman's  Article  on 
Erasmus  {Quart.  Rev.,  No.  ccxi.,  and  in  his  collected 
Essays')  is  an  elaborate  and  instructive  discussion.  Jor- 
tin's  Life  of  Erasmus  is  a  learned,  but  at  the  same  time, 
an  interesting  biography,  abounding  in  extracts  from 
the  writings  of  Erasmus.  Upon  Erasmus  and  his  asso- 
ciates, the  friends  of  the  New  Learning,  in  England,  we 
have  Seebohm's  The  Oxford  Reformers  of  I4g%  (Lon- 
don, 1869).  The  literature  of  the  age  prior  to  Luther  is 
described  in  the  work  of  Hallam,  Introduction  to  the  Lit. 
of  Europe  in  tlie  13th,  16th,  and  jyth  centuries  (3  vols., 
1855-56). 

II.  General'  IVorks  t<pon  the  Reformation.  Robert- 
son's History  of  Charles  V.  Edited  by  W.  H.  Prescott, 
with  supplement  on  the  Cloister  Life  of  the  Emperor  (3 
vols.,  1856).     Robertson   prefixes  to  his  work  an  Essay 

Q 


242  Notes  on  Books  in  English 

on  the  state  of  Europe  at  the  accession  of  Charles. 
Prescott's  History  of  the  Reign  of  Ferdinand  and  Isa- 
bella, exhibits  the  causes  which  gave  its  pecuhar  tone  to 
Spanish  Cathohcism,  prior  to  the  sixteenth  century. 
Ranke,  History  of  the  Popes  of  Rome  during  the  six- 
teenth and  seventeenth  centuries.  Translated  by  Sarah 
Austin,  (3  vols.,  1867).  This  is  a  work  of  the  highest 
value.  Hausser,  The  Period  of  the  Reformation,  1517- 
1648.  Translated  from  the  German  by  Mrs.  G.  Sturges 
(New  York,  1874)  is  a  very  able  series  of  historical  lec- 
tures, and  is  especially  valuable  for  the  political  side  of 
the  history  of  this  period.  Guizot's  Lectures  on  the  His- 
tory of  Civilisation  contain  two  chapters  on  the  Re- 
formation and  its  consequences.  D'Aubigne's  History 
of  the  Reformation  is  a  full,  detailed  narrative,  in  a  viva- 
cious style,  by  a  warm  advocate  of  Protestantism.  On 
the  Catholic  side  is  Spaulding's  History  of  the  Reforma- 
tion (Baltimore,  1866).  Balmes,  Protestatttism  and  Cath- 
olicity compared  in  their  effects  on  Civilization  :  trans- 
lated from  the  Spanish  (i 851),  is  a  voluminous  polemi- 
cal book,  by  a  Spanish  Priest,  in  reply  to  Guizot's 
Lectures  on  Civilization.  The  Reformation,  by  G.  P. 
Fisher,  is  designed  "to  present  to  intelligent  and  edu- 
cated readers  the  means  of  acquainting  themselves " 
with   the   Reformation,  in    its  various   aspects    (i   vol., 

1873)- 
The  ivth  vol.  of  Gieseler's    Church  History    (in  the 

,  American  Edition)  is  an  extremely  learned  and  satisfac- 
tory account  of  the  Reformation ;  but  it  is  adapted  to 
scholars,  and  not  to  the  general  reader.  Hardvvick's 
History  of  the  Reformation  is  likewisS  intended  for 
scholars  and  theologiarts,  and  is  written  by  a  decided 
adherent  of  the  Church  of  England.  The  chapters  on 
Ihe   Reformation    in    Hase's    Church    History   are    less 


Relating  to  the  Reformation.  243 

scholastic,  but  are  still  specially  adapted  to  the  theologi- 
cal scholar.  Waddington's  History  of  the  Reformation, 
is  a  carefully  written,  impartial  narrative,  of  a  more 
popular  character  ;  but  it  extends  only  to  the  death  of 
Luther. 

III.  Works  upon  the  Reforniatioji  in  the  several  coun- 
tries, {a)  Germany.  At  the  head  of  the  list  belongs 
Ranke's  History  of  Germany  in  the  Period  of  the  Re- 
formation:  translated  in  part,  by  Sarah  Austin,  (3  vols., 
1845-47).  Michelet's  Life  of  Luther  (i  vol.),  and  Table- 
Talk  of  Luther,  are  both  translated  in  Bohn's  Library. 
The  Life  of  Luther  by  Barnas  Sears  (8  vo.,  1850),  is 
brief,  but  founded  on  an  extensive  knowledge  of  the 
sources. 

{b)  Switzerland.  Christoffel's  Zwingli,  or  the  Rise  of 
the  Reformation  in  Switzerland,  is  one  of  the  latest 
biographies  of  the  Zurich  Reformer.  The  Life  of  Cal- 
vin, by  Beza,  translated  from  the  Latin  by  Gibson 
(Philad.,  1836),  is  one  of  the  original  documents  relating 
to  the  subject.  The  Life  of  Calvin  by  Dyer  (1849)  i^ 
accurate  and  impartial.  The  most  copious  and  com- 
plete of  the  biographies  of  Calvin  is  by  Henry,  trans- 
lated from  thC'  German  by  Stebbing  (3  vols.,  1844). 
The  Letters  oj  Calvin,  edited  by  Bonnet,  translated  in 
2  vols.  (Edinburgh,  1856-57),  are  important.  There  is 
an  English  translation  of  all  of  Calvin's  Writings,  in 
52  vols.  (Edinburgh,  1856-57). 

(c)  Denmark,  Norway,  atid  Sweden.  Dunham,  His- 
/<?ry  of  these  countries  (in  Lardner's  Cab.  Cycl.,  1840). 
Gt\]er,  History  of  Sweden,  X.rzins\aX&A.  by  Turner  (1845). 

{d)  Bohemia  and  Moravia.  The  Reformation  and 
Anti-Refotmation  in  Bohemia  (2  vols.,  London,  1845.) 

(^/)  Poland.  Krasinski,  History  of  the  Reformation  in 
Poland  (2  vols.,  London,  1840).     By  the  same  Author, 


244  Notes  on  Books  in  English 

Sketch  of  the  Religions  History  of  the  Slavonic  Nations 
(Edinburgh,  1851). 

(d')  France.  The  chapters,  on  the  Reformation,  in 
Michelet's  General  History  of  France,  are  correct  and 
animated.  The  Stiidenfs  History  of  France  (i  vol., 
8vo.,  1862)  gives  a  brief  narrative  of  the  Reformation 
and  the  Civil  Wars.  Ranke's  History  of  France,  espe- 
cially in  the  i6fh  and  lyth  cetituries,  is  translated  in  part 
under  the  title,  History  of  Civil  Wars  and  Monarchy  in 
Fratice,  Lofidon,  1852.  The  whole  work,  like  the  rest 
of  the  series  by  Ranke  on  this  era,  is  masterly.  Among 
the  other  valuable  works  on  the  French  Reformation, 
are  De  Felice,  History  of  Frettch  Protestants,  translated 
by  Lobdell  (1851).  W.  S.  Browning,  History  of  the 
Hugitenots  in  the  i6th  century  (3  vols.,  1829-39).  [Mrs. 
Marsh],  History  of  the  Huguenots  (2  vols.,  1847).  Due 
D'Aumale,  Lives  of  the  Princes  of  Conde  (vol.  i.  and  ii., 
London,  1872).  H.  White,  The  Massacre  of  St.  Bar- 
tholomew, preceded  by  a  narrative  of  the  religious  wars 
(London,  1868).  This  one  of  the  best  of  the  histories 
of  this  period ;  it  gives  interesting  details. 

[f)  Netherlands.  Brandt,  History  of  the  Reforitiation 
in  the  Netherlands  (4  vols.,  4to.).  Engl,  translation 
(London,  1720).  Brandt  is  the  learned  Arminian  histo- 
rian. His  voluminous  work  is  highly  prized  by  scholars. 
Motley,  Rise  of  the  Dutch  Republic,  3  vols.  (New  York, 
1856).     Prescott,  History  of  Philip  H.  (3  vols,,  1855.) 

[g]  England.  The  works  of  the  English  Reformers 
have  been  published  by  the  Parker  Society,  in  54  vols., 
with  a  general  index.  The  general  histories  of  England 
treat  of  the  Reformation ;  as  Macaulay  (in  his  Introduc- 
tory Chapter) — also,  in  his  reviews  of  Ranke,  and  Hal- 
lam  ;  Hume,  Lingard,  from  the  Roman  Catholic  point 
of  view  ;  Froude,  etc.     Hallam's    Constitutional  History 


Relating  to  the  Reformation.  245 

is  an  authority  of  the  first  rank  on  all  legal  and  constitu- 
tional questions  connected  with  the  rise  and  progress  of 
Protestantism  in  England,  and  is  instructive  on  collat- 
eral points.  Burnet's  History  of  the  Reforination,  is  the 
work  of  an  honest  writer,  with  extraordinary  means  of 
knowledge,  but  sometimes  swayed  by  prejudice.  The 
biographical  and  historical  writings  of  Strype  are  of 
great  value  to  the  student  who  wishes  to  make  a  thor- 
ough study  of  the  English  Reformation.  Massingberd's 
History  of  the  English  Reformation  has  passed  through 
many  editions.  It  is  concise,  J.  H.  Blunt,  in  his  His- 
tory of  the  Reformation  to  the  death  of  Wolsey,  1514-47 
(London,  1872)  represents  the  conservative,  or  High 
Church  opinions.  He  bestows  much  praise  upon  Wol- 
sey and  his  ideas  of  Reform.  Neal's  History  of  the 
Puritans  from  the  Reformation  to  the  death  of  Queen 
Elizabeth,  is  a  learned  account  of  the  Reformation  from 
the  Puritan  standing-point.  Bacon's  Genesis  of  the  New 
Engtand  Churches  is  a  narrative  of  the  rise  of  Indepen- 
dency, and  of  the  migration  of  the  Pilgrims  to  Ply- 
mouth. 

{h)  Scotland.  The  History  of  the  Reformation,  by  John 
Knox  himself,  is  one  of  the  principal  sources  of  informa- 
tion. Robertson,  History  of  Scotland  during  the  reigns 
of  Mary  and  James  VI. ,  etc.  McCrie's  Ltfe  of  John  Knox 
is  highly  instructive.  Burton,  History  of  Scotland  to  1688. 
This  is  the  most  recent,  and  probably  the  best  of  the 
histories  of  Scotland.     It  is  full  upon  the  Reformation. 

(z)  Italy.  McCrie's  History  of  the  Reformation  in 
Italy,  is  a  standard  work.  M.  Young's  Life  of  Paleario 
(2  vols.,  i860)  throws  light  upon  the  history  of  Italian 
Protestantism. 

(7)  Spain.  McCrie's  History  of  the  Reformation  in 
Spain  is  the  best  work  on  the  subject.     Prescott's  His- 


246  Notes  on  Books  Relati?ig  to  the  Reformation. 

tory  of  Philip  II.  Ticknor's  Bisiory  of  Spanish  Litera- 
ture, and  Llorente's  History  of  the  Inquisition  in  Spai?t, 
may  be  consulted  with  profit. 

In  addition  to  the  foregoing  titles,  may  be  mentioned 
Sarpi's  History  of  the  Council  of  Trettt,  Ranke's  History 
of  the  Popes,  Hubner's  Life  of  Pope  Sixtus  V.,  Stein- 
metz's  History  of  the  fesuits,  Isaac  Taylor,  Loyola  and 
Jesuitism  iu  its  Rudiments.  These  works  bear  on  the 
rise  and  progress  of  the  Catholic  Reaction. 

publisher's  note. 
A  full  list  of  "  Works  in  general  history  relating  to  the  Period  of 
the  Reformation,"  giving  the  titles  in  full,  will  be  found  in  the 
History  of  the  Reformation  by  Prof.  Fisher.  Those  who  may 
desire  to  pursue  the  study  of  this  Era  in  any  particular  direction 
beyond  the  limits  indicated  above,  will  find  all  necessary  aid  in  the 
list  named. 


INDEX. 


CAM 

ADRIAN  VI.,  154,  155,  179,206 
Aleander,   Papal  nuncio,    105, 

109,  118,  130 
Alexander   VI.,  24,  26,  37,  73,  78,205 
Alsace,  see  Elsass 
Alva,  Duke  of,  ioo 
America,  discovery  of,  4 
Anne  of  Cleves,  194 
Armadd,  the  Spanish,  200,  215 
Arthur,  Prince  of  Wales,  54,  173 
Astrology,  229 
Augsburg  confession,  169 
.Augsburg,  peace  of,  171 
Augustine,  bt.,  theology  of,  98,  99, 

106 


BAMBERG,  bishop  of,  230 
Bavaria,  rising  of  peasants  in, 

149 
BcrMchingen,  see  Gotz  v 
Berne  revolts  from  Rome,  165 
Binle,    English   version   of,  185,  192, 

221  ;    German,   135,   221  ;  French, 

221 
lioheim,  Hans,  62 
Boleyn,  Anne,  i8o,.i84  ;  marriage  of, 

184  ;  beheaded, 193 
Borgia,  Caesar,  24,  26,  73,  75 
Bosworth,  battle  of,  52 
Bouibon,  Duke  of,  155,  157,    179 
Buckingham,  execution  of,  176 
B  ndschuh,  the,  63,  115, 117, 128, 138, 

144 

CABOT,  Sebastian,  4,  56 
Calvin,   John,   202,  205  ;  influ- 
ence of  writings  of,  221 
Cambray,  league  of,  131 


DEN 

Campeggio,  180 

Capets,  dynasty  of  the,  42 

Cappel,  peace  of,  i6s 

Cariffa,  cardinal,  212 

Carinthia,  rising  of  the  peasantry  in, 

149. 151 
Carlstadt,    136,  137,  141,  142,  145,  146 
Casimir,  Markgraf,  146,  148 
Catherine  of  Arragon,  54,  90,  132,  173 

174,  175,  176,  180;  death  of,  193. 
Catherine  de  Medici,  217 
Celibacy  of  the   clergy,  influence  of, 

223 
Charles  V.,  30,  39,  103,  113-135,  154, 

155,  166-171,  17s,  179,180,  195,  196, 

200, 213 
Charles  VIII.  of  France,  26,  37,  46, 

73 
Christian  II.,  199 

Christian  Prince,  of  Erasmus,  93,  100 
Civilization,  character  of  modern,  5 
Clement  VII.,  155,  160,  179,  206 
Colet,  John,  78-97,  loi,  183,  190,  222 

229 
Columbus,  4,  37,  41,  56 
Commerce,  3,  18,  21;  233-237 
Contarini,  Gasper,  207,  208 
Contarini,  the  younger,  212 
Copernicus,  Nicolas,  232 
Cranach,  Lucas,  119,  120 
Crammer,  184,  193,  197 
Criminal  law,  cruelty  of,  230 
Cromwell,  Oliver,  204 
Cromwell,  Thomas,  191-193 
Crusades,  the  influence  of^  3,  17 

DANTE,  23 
Denmark,  revolt  of,  from  Rome, 
199-2*0 

247 


248 


Index. 


GRO 
Diets,    Cjerman,    30      {see    Worms, 

Spires,  Ratisbon) 
Dudley  (minister  of  Henry  VII.)  82- 

84 


EDWARD  VI.,  194 
Elizabeth,  princess  (afterwards 

queen),   193 
Elsass,  rising  of  peasants  in,  63,  149 
Empson  (minister  of  Henry  VII.),  83, 

84 
England  under  Henry  VII.,  48-57 

76-84;    under  Henrj' VIII.,  84-92 

132-133,  155-156,  171-198 
Erasmus,  81-85,  93,  100,  loi,  103, 104, 

no,  113,  134,  153, 177-178,  i9°»  207, 

226,  229 


FERDINAND  and  Isabella,  4, 27, 
36,37,88-51,  104,  174 
Feudinand  I.  of  Austria,  170 
Feudal  system,  16,  20,  29,  31,  233-237 

{see  Serfdom) 
Ficino,  70,  75,  77,  229 
Field  of  the  cloth  of  gold,  133 
Fisher,  Bishop,  sent  to  the  Tower, 

187,  207 
Flodden,  battle  of,  90 
Florence,  26,  68-76 
Forest  cantons  of  Switzerland,  165 
France,  41-48,  8S-92,    132-135,  154- 

157,  169-196,  216-217      ^ 
Francis  I.,  28,91,  loi,  103,   132,  133, 

154-157,  208,  216 
Franconia,  rebellion  of  peasants  in, 

62,  145  „ 

Franz  von  Sickingen,  31, 113-115, 118, 

128,  129,  138-140 
Frederic  of  Saxony,  loi,  102-135,  138 
Frundsberg,  General,  125, 151, 155, 157 

GALILEO,  233 
Genevan  reformers,  the,  201- 

214 
Germany  27-35,   59-68,  97-154,   166- 

171,  220 
Geyer,  Florian,  143,  148 
Gold  mines   of  new   world,  effect  of 

discovery  of,  234 
Gonsalve  de  Cordova,  27 
GiJtz  von  Bcrlichingen,  31,  113,  149 
Granada,  conquest  of,  4,  36 
Graubund,  the,  63 
Grocyn,  81 


LUT 

Grotius,  Hugo,  220 
Guicciardini,  24 
Gustavus  Adolphus,  199 
Gustavus  Vasa,  199 


H 


ANSE  Towns,  18,  33 

Helfenstein,   Count    Ton,  143, 

143 
Henry  VII.,  52-57,  83-84,  173-1/4 
Henry  VIII.,  27,  28,   44,   82-92,   100- 

104,  132-133, 154,  172-199,  220 
Heresy,  185-186,  225 
Hermann,  162 
Hesse,  Philip  of,  170 
Hipler,  Wendel,  143 
Holy  Alliance,  the,  88 
Howard,  Admiral,  90 
Howard,  Catherine,  195 
Huguenots,  the,  204-205,  217 
Humanists.  71,  77,  206 
Huss,  John,  14,  62,  106,  119,  123,  127 
Hutten,  Ulrich  von,  113-115,  118-123, 

128-130,  138-140 


TNDULGENCES,sale   of,  100-103 

J.      Infanta  of  Portugal,  133,  156,  180 

Innocent  VIII.,  73 

'  Inquisition,'  the,  39,  213,  215 

Italian  reformers,  201-208 

Itaiy,  12-27  {see  Rome  and  Popes) 

JEROME  of  Prague,  14 
Jesuits,  order  of,  208—212,  222 
Johanna  of  Castile,  38 
Joss  Fritz,  64-65,  117,   137-138 
Julius  II.,  27,88-89,  174 

KEMPTEN,  peasants'    rebellion 
in,  63 
Kepler,  233 
Knox,  John,  204-205,  222 

LAMBERT  SIMNEL,  53 
Leo   X.,   27,  89,   100-154,   170 

206 
Lilly,  84,  87 
Linacre,  8x 
Lollards.  15,  88,  178 
Louis  XI.  of  France,  43 
Louis  XII.,  27,  88,  91 
Loyola.  Igratius,  208-212 
Luther,  Martin,  97-135, 152.  ^^6,  '^7" 

170,  177,  208,  221,  229,  2_jO 


Lidex. 


249 


POL 

MACHIAVELLI,  19,22,  25,  43, 
46,  75,  163 
Magellan,  227 

Marignano,  battle  of,  91,  132 
Mary,     princess,   afrerwards    queen, 

133,  156,  175,  176,  179,  196,  200 
Maximilian,   emperor,  19,  29,  38,  64, 

89.  103 
Medici,  Cosmo  de',  69,  70 
Medici,  Lorenzo  de',  69,  70,  72,  135 
Medici,  Catherine  de',  217 
Melanchthon,   Philip,    103,   109-111, 

121,  136,  168-169,208,  230 
Michael  Angelo,  69 
Milan.  26,  42,  132,  154 
Mohammedan  power,  the,   2,  4,  35, 

168,  169 
Monasteries,  dissolution  of,  191-192 
Moors,  in  Spain,  2,  4,  35 
More,  Sir  "Thomas,  82-97,   172,  176- 

178,  186-190,  226,  229 
Morgarten,  battle  of,  61 
Morton,  Cardinal,  55,  183,  205 
Miinzer,  136, 141,  142,  150 

NANTES,  edict  of,  217 
Naples,  26,  42,  132 
Netherlands,   revolt  of  from  Rome, 

200,  201 
New  Testament  of  Erasmus,  94,  185, 
190 ;  of  Tindal,  see  Tindal 


OXFORD    Reformers,  76-97,  176 
177,  iqo,  225,  {see  Colet,  Eras- 
mus, More) 

PARR,  Queen  Catherine,  195 
Pavia,  battle  of,  155,  179 

Paul  III.,  207,  208,  213 

Paul  IV.,  213 

Peasants'  war,  140,  152,  177 

Peasantry,  condition  of  in  England, 
50,  233-237  ;  in  France,  45  and  235, 
237  ;  in  Germany,  see  Serfdom 

Pcrkin  Warbeck,  53 

Petrarch,  23 

Philip  de  Commines,  45 

Philip  II.  of  Spain,  38,  170,  196,201 
214 

Pico  dclla  Mirando'a,  70,  9.  72,  229 

Pilgrimage  of  Grace,  193 

Pilgrim  fathers,  222,  204-205 

Poie,  Reginald,  194,  206,  212 

Politian,  70 


SWl 
Popes  of  Rome,  24-27,  206,  and  see 

Innocent    VIII.,   Alexander    VI., 

luhus    II.,  Leo   X.,   Adrian   VI., 

Paul  III.,  Paul  IV. 
'  Praise  of  Folly  '  of  Erasmus,  85,  loi, 

113.  191 
'  Prince,  The,' of  Machiavelli,  76 
Printing,  invention  of,  4 
Protestants,  origin  of  name  of,  168 
Puritans,  the,  204,  217,  226 

RATISBON,  Diet  of,  169,  208 
Revival  of  learning,  3,  68,  78 
Revolts    from    Rome — in    England, 

171-198 
— in  Germany,  166-170 
— in  Switzerland.  163-166 
— in  Denmark  and  Sweden,  199 
— in  the  Netherlands,  200 
Richard  III.,  52-53 
Rohrbach,  little  Jack,  144 
Roman  Catholic  Church,  8 
Roman  civilizaiion,  6 
Rome,  8,  22-27  '•  sack  of,  154-156 
Roper,  Margaret,  187 
Kothenburg,   peasants'   war  at,  146- 

149 

SICKINGEN,  see  Franz 
St.   Bartholomew,  massacre  of, 

217 
St.  Paul's  school,  founded  by  Colet,  86 
Savonarola  Girolamo,  T2--Ti,  78,  121, 

222 
Saxony,  John  of,  167,  169 
Schmalkalden,  league  of,  169,  170 
Scientific  inquiry,  beginnings   of,  231 
Scientific  knowledge.  227 
Scholastic  system,  the,  12-16,  77 
Serfdom  in  Germany,  ao,  33-4,  58-66 

i40-'53,  231 
Serfdom  in  France,  20,  45-47,  234 
Serfdom  in  England,  20,  234-236 
Servetus,  203,  226 
Slavery  and  slave  trade,  41 
Spain,  35-41, 214-215,  and  see  Charles 

V. 
Spalatin,  109,  no,  115,  122,  123 
Spires,  I'ictsof,  156,  157,  167-168 
Spurs,  battle  of  the,  90 
Storch,  Cl.tus,  136,  137,  142 
Swabia,  insurrection  of  peasants  in, 

141-143 
Swabian  league,  the,  66,  141-143 
Sweden,  revolt  from  Rome  of,  199-201 
Switzerland,  61,  163 


250 


Index. 


VAL 

TETZEL,  102 
Thirty  Years'   War,    r67,   171, 

200, 216 
Thuiingia,   insurrection    of  peasants 

in,  150 
Tindall,  William,  185,  193,  222 
T  ent,  Council  of,  208,  212-214 
Truchses-i,  George,  143,  145, 151 
Tycho  Brahe,  233 
Tyrol,  rising  of  peasants  in  the,  151- 

152 

ULRICH   VON   HUTTEN,  see 
Hutten 
Ulrich,  D.,  of  WUrtemberg,  66 
United  Provinces,  th-,  201 
Universe,  ideas  of  the,  228 
Universities,  14 
Universities   of  England  visited  and 

reformed,  192 
U'opia,  More's,  94,  96,  100,  172,  185 

226 

VAT.DEZ,  JUAN  DE,  60.  157,  206 
Valdez.  Alphonse  de,  secreta  y 
of  Charles  V.,  131 


ZWI 

Vasco  de  Gama,  4 

Venice,  25 

Vienna  besieged  by  the  Turks,  168 


"VITARTBURG,  castle  of  the,  130, 

Weinsburg,  the  piper  of,  143-146 

Wiclif,  14,  62,  106 

Witchcraft,  belief  in,  2-;o 

Wi  tenbeig  Reformers   (see    Luther 

and  MelanchthonJ 
Wolsey,  89,  92,  154,  155,178-184,  197, 

205 
Worms,  Diet  of,  115-135,  156,167,169, 

170,  172 


XAVIER,  FRANCIS,  210 
Ximenes,    cardinal,    39,    154, 
205 

ZURICH  revolts   from   Rome,  165 
Zwickau,     prophets     of,    136- 

Zwingle,  Uirich,  164-165,  202 


BDINBtXRGH  REVIEW.—-  The  BEST  Hisiorv  of  the  Roman  Republic   ' 

iiONDON  TIMES "BY  FAR  THE  BEST  History  of  the  Decline  and  FaD 

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THE 

iii0tonj  of  l^ome, 

FROM  THE  EARLIEST  TIME  TO  THE  PERIOD  OF  ITS  DECLINE. 
By  Dr.  THEODOR  MOMMSEN. 

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Professor  of  15iblical  Criticism  in  the  University  of  Glasgow,  late  Classical 

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record  our  opinion  that  Dr.  Mommsen's  is  by  far  the  best  history  of  the  Decline  and  Fall 
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^|f    l^istOFg    of   (JpFFfF, 

By  Prof.  Dr.  ERKST  CHRTIUS. 

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